


Sins of the Past and Present

by irena_adler



Series: Watson [109]
Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Angst and Drama, Childhood Trauma, Dysfunctional Family, Gun Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Hospitals, Hunters & Hunting, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Manhunt - Freeform, Murder Mystery, North Carolina, Partnership, Past Child Abuse, Protective Team, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 50,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irena_adler/pseuds/irena_adler
Summary: Ian tries to rescue Jason from a terrible situation, whether Jason wants to be rescued or not.
Relationships: Ian Edgerton/Jason Hill (OC), Ian Edgerton/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Watson [109]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/352478
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15





	1. Phone Call

**Author's Note:**

> Lt. Col. Jason C. Hill is introduced in the story, [How Edgerton Became Number Four](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8613985). Jason was the sniper who had been ranked right above Ian, but Ian rattled him enough with sexual innuendo at his testing that he dropped a ranking. Ian later made up for it in bed. Jason is very much in the closet and deeply conflicted about acting on his long suppressed homosexual desires.  
> This story comes about a year and a half after they met and they are now in an unacknowledged but exclusive relationship.
> 
> **Disclaimer:** Boone, North Carolina, is a real place, and I use many real locations and descriptions. However, the story, the people, and St. Michael's Chapel are entirely made-up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian gets a disturbing phone call.

**Part 1: Phone Call -**

Ian was walking down the hall at Quantico after finishing teaching a class when his cellphone rang. He frowned at the unknown caller. Not many people had his number. If this was a telemarketer, they were going to get an earful. Ian had felt on edge all morning and he'd love to have a target more satisfactory than lazy students. 

"Edgerton," he snarled into his phone. 

"Agent Ian Edgerton?" A male voice said. 

"Yes…" 

"This is Colonel Bromberg." 

Ian's blood went cold. That was Jason's CO. 

"Yes, sir?" 

"Do you know a Lt. Col. Hill?" 

"You know I do," Ian said tightly. 

"I'm calling you unofficially, Agent Edgerton. None of this can go beyond this call." 

"Is he dead?" Ian snapped. 

Bromberg paused for a moment, then said, "He's alive, as far as we know." 

Ian's heart stuttered. "What do you mean?" 

"He's in trouble." 

All sorts of warzone scenarios flashed across Ian's mind. "Then why don't you help him?" 

"He's not on a mission." 

"Then…" 

"Agent Edgerton," Bromberg said. "I know you are his friend. I also know some about you and your reputation. Hill was alive, as of a few hours ago, but if the Army goes after him, the situation is going to go from bad to worse fast." 

"What are you talking about?" Ian demanded. 

"This is all we know…" Bromberg said formally. "Twenty-six hours ago, Hill received a phone call from a childhood friend, Scott Wright. Hill requested and was granted emergency leave. He flew into Ashville, arriving there at fourteen-thirty yesterday afternoon. There he rented a car, stating that he would drive to Boone." 

Ian bit on his tongue as he waited for the Colonel to get to the point. 

"At oh-two-fifteen this morning, 911 received a phone call from a man claiming to be Lt. Col. Hill. He stated that he had killed Scott Wright and kidnapped Father Roger Lane." 

" _What_?" 

"Police officers dispatched to St. Michael's Chapel found the body of Scott Wright and signs of a struggle. Father Lane was missing." 

"You can't believe this." 

"It doesn't matter what I believe," Bromberg said sharply, showing emotion at last. "I just know that there is a manhunt on for Hill and if more people die, then we will never be able to figure out what went down." 

A chill went through Ian. "I have to go find him, before that happens." 

"I can't ask you to." 

"You don't have to ask." 

"I'm trying to make it clear that I can't involve the Army or the FBI officially. But if a vigilante gang of backwoods cops decide to take Hill on…" 

"There will be blood." 

"Yes. And Father Lane needs to be found - either as a witness or as a second casualty." 

"I'll go right now. Anything else you can tell me?" 

"That's all I know. I only know this much because of a courtesy contact from a friend of a friend in the North Carolina State Highway Patrol." 

"Damn, they've called in the state police?" 

"As close as they have to a state police. They think he's gone into the hills. This could go pear-shaped fast." 

Ian swore under his breath. 

"Keep me apprised?" Bromberg asked. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then Godspeed." 

Ian ended the call and stared at the phone, his heart pounding. What had happened? Jason had finally gone back to Boone, but something disastrous had taken place. There was at least one man dead and possibly another and… 

Ian quickly dialed Jason's cellphone. He got the automated message that said the number was disconnected or no longer in service. What did that mean? 

Ian shook his head sharply. He wasn't going to get answers standing here. It was about seven hours to drive to Boone and he couldn't get there much faster with a plane flight. He started to head towards his car. 

Abruptly he remembered the thick file he had in his little-used office here at Quantico. He had gotten the full classified file on Lt. Col. Jason Hill, but had put it in a drawer unread. He had called in a lot of favors to get the file, but had changed his mind about reading it when he finally got it in his hands. It was a horrible breach of privacy and even Jason's dangerous self-hate didn't justify Ian digging into his personal life. He'd thought he'd had time to figure out Jason's issues on his own. 

He had been wrong. 

Now he needed every scrap of information he had to try to help Jason. He didn't know if Jason even wanted his help, but Jason was going to get it. And Ian was going to use every possible resource he could. 

As he walked to his office to get the classified file, Ian began to make some calls. 


	2. Arrival in Boone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian starts calling in favors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Boone is a real place, and I use many real locations and descriptions. However, the story, the people and a few key locations are entirely made-up.  
> 

**Part 2: Arrival in Boone -**

Two and a half hours after he'd gotten the call from Colonel Bromberg, Ian climbed out of an unmarked FBI helicopter in Boone, North Carolina. He was on the helipad of the county hospital. He waved his thanks to Agent Baladin and hefted his go bag, his rifle case and a heavy box. The box was his official excuse for coming here, as a transporter for some medical equipment that the hospital had been wanting for a while and had suddenly and mysteriously been granted. If Ian hadn't been so worried about Jason, he'd have been gratified and a little surprised by the willingness of colleagues old and new to help him. As it was, all he could think about was how long it had taken him to get here and how bad things could have gone in the meantime. 

After Ian left the medical box in the stunned, fumblingly grateful possession of Dr. Smith, he walked out of the hospital and hailed a taxi. He gave the taxi driver the address of a car rental place and sat back to take his first look at Jason's hometown. It was a lovely Blue Ridge Mountain town, known for its university, bluegrass musicians and Appalachian storytellers. But Ian couldn't keep his mind on its picturesque streets. 

On the plane, he had finally read through that classified file on Lt. Col. Jason Hill. It had been interesting, but not as enlightening as he had hoped. 

Jason Christian Hill was the second son of Christian Hill and Nicole Robinson. He had two younger sisters. The Hill family was very prominent in the western North Carolina, with a fortune made in investments, mainly in banking but also in land and mineral rights. The largest building at the local university had their name on it. They had been in Boone for generations. 

There was no mention in the file about how the Hill family felt about Jason joining the Army, instead of going into the family investment business like his two sisters or concentrating on spending the family money like his older brother. It did state that Jason had shown an aptitude for both academics and outdoor skills from an early age, but Ian could have found that information from his High School graduation announcement. While in the Army, Jason had gotten a Bachelor's degree in Biology, with minors in History and Art, followed up by a Master's degree in Biology. He was one of the youngest Lieutenant Colonels currently in the Army. 

He had spent his early years in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan and had earned his Silver Star for valor at the Battle of Wanat in Afghanistan. Where he spent his recent time wasn't as clear. A great deal of Jason's work was redacted, even in the file that Ian had, but what was left explained exactly why Jason had gone up the ranks so quickly. He had demonstrated the ability to lead soldiers in the worst of situations, accomplish the impossible and had shown personal courage that bordered on insanity in order to protect those under his command. His last couple of years, however, he had led a small group of men and women in a special, unofficial squad, that was inserted into hot spots around the world. Ian knew that Jason's squad had no idea that he was in trouble. If they did, they would be here, hell or high water, and - highly skilled or not - a bloody confrontation with local authorities would be inevitable. 

Ian breathed out heavily and hoped that Colonel Bromberg was right to call him instead. Boone went by in his window, green and charming. It was as far from the deserts of Afghanistan as possible to imagine, but it might be here that Jason finally met his end. 

Ian shook his head in denial. With an effort, he turned his thoughts to the question that he had debated over for the entire helicopter flight - should he approach the local police? He wasn't here on any official business, and couldn't invoke the FBI or the Army. A small town like this would be understandably suspicious of a helpful stranger with a gun. Then again, if he ran into the police without announcing his presence, they might haul him in for obstruction, or just shoot him and leave him in the woods. But that would be better than making the police think that they had to defend their territory. 

He sighed. He was going to have to go it alone, Bromberg had made that clear. 

Then he smiled to himself. No, he wouldn't have to go it alone. 

He pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number. "Okay, Dr. Eppes, what voodoo do you have for me?" 

  



	3. Getting Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian consults some security experts.

**Part 3: Getting Help --**

"Ian," Charlie Eppes said, "Are you in Boone, yet?" 

Ian was glad that Charlie's voice was free of the awkwardness of the last time they met, when Ian found out that Charlie had entertained sex fantasies about him. 

"I just got to Boone," Ian said. "What do you have for me?" 

"Some questions first," Charlie said, all business. "If you can answer them." 

Charlie began asking about Jason's childhood, where he'd lived, who he'd spent time with, and so forth. Ian discovered that he knew more than he'd realized \- that classified file had been more useful than he'd thought. Charlie was able to draw a lot out of him and Ian heard Charlie typing away as they talked. 

"We thought-" Charlie was saying. 

"Wait," Ian snapped. "Who's 'we'?" 

"Oh, Matt's here helping me." 

"Matt? Who's Matt? Charlie, I warned you that this had to be kept outside official FBI-" 

"You know Matt, you met him, right? David's… roommate?" 

Ian frowned to himself. He vaguely remembered the square-jawed Asian tech, who was David's in-the-closet boyfriend. 

"But why did you-" 

"Matt is…" Charlie fumbled with the phone and Ian heard him put his phone on speaker. "Say 'hi' Matt." 

"Uh, hi," came an unfamiliar voice. 

Charlie continued, "Matt is a much better hacker than I am." 

"Security specialist," Matt corrected. 

"Why don't you call Amita?" Ian asked. 

There was an awkward pause then Charlie said, "We're not really friends right now." Then he continued more cheerfully, "Besides, Matt is much better. Amita cares about theory, and Matt just cares about what works." 

"Hey!" Matt protested. "I care about theory! Maybe I don't have my doctorate yet but-" 

"Sorry," Charlie said. "I meant it to be a compliment." 

"Didn't sound like it," Matt grumbled. 

"Okay," Ian interrupted. "If you needed to bring in Matt, that's fine, just nobody else." 

"Well, I told Don, of course." 

"Charlie…" 

"I couldn't not tell him, you're our friend! And Colby, too, of course." 

"Charlie…" Ian said, trying not to grind his teeth. "Can we just get back to the part where you help me?" 

"Right, yes!" Charlie moved the phone off of speakerphone, then asked him a few more questions. He chatted with Matt for a few minutes, while Ian stared out the window and wondered if the taxi driver was taking the long way to the car rental place. 

Finally, Charlie came back and began to talk about Bayesian inference and probabilities for hypotheses. Ian would normally find this interesting, or at least be able to make sarcastic comments, but he couldn't keep his mind on what Charlie was saying. He just gripped the phone tightly and waited for Charlie to give him a direction to go. Normally he'd do his own tracking, but he didn't have the time for a slow, steady hunt today. Then Charlie started talking about, of all things, an old TV game show called 'Let's Make a Deal' and Ian lost patience. 

"Charlie!" he snapped. "Dammit, just get to the point!" 

Charlie grumbled but gave him three locations that had the highest probability to find Jason. Ian thanked him, taking a moment he didn't feel like he had to soothe Charlie's ruffled feathers, and was about to say goodbye. 

"Wait!" came Matt's voice. 

"Hold on," Charlie said. His voice became muffled as he talked to Matt, then Charlie returned. 

"Ian," Charlie's voice was suddenly grim and Ian's stomach clenched. 

"They found him?" 

"No, not Jason, but…" 

"What?" 

"A Highway Patrol officer has been shot. They're saying Jason did it." 

"Damn it," Ian groaned. The stakes suddenly went through the roof. If Jason had killed an officer, every LEO in North Carolina would be out for his blood. 

"He's not dead, the officer. Not yet. He's in the hospital but they don't think he's going to make it." 

"Damn it, damn it," Ian repeated. "Where did the shooting happen?" 

"Figuring that in…" Charlie said and Ian heard the clack of computer keys. "That's odd…" Charlie said. "It's in a low probability area." 

"I have to go there, though." 

"I guess…" Charlie said. Ian knew that Charlie hated reality conflicting with his calculations. Charlie gave him the address anyway. "Matt's hacked into the Highway Patrol's internal communications so we should know if anything changes on the officer - or if they spot Jason, for that matter." 

"Matt hacked the Highway Patrol?" Ian was impressed, despite his urgency. 

"And the local police, and anyone else we could think of." 

"Don't get caught," Ian warned. He could hear Matt's scoffing noise through the phone. 

Charlie's voice had a smile in it. "We'll send you updates as we get them. Let us know if you expect to be inaccessible." 

"I'll let you know if I know," Ian said dryly. He ended the conversation before anything else could come up. 

The taxi driver finally arrived at the car rental place, a spot that Ian was sure the driver had gone by several times. If Ian hadn't checked that the plastic barrier between the seats was soundproof, Ian would have wondered if the driver was eavesdropping. In this case, Ian was sure that the driver was just milking an out-of-town fare for everything he could get. 

Ian got out of the taxi and paid the driver. He walked into the car rental place, his nerves buzzing. With the officer getting shot, it was even more important that he keep his head down and not let anyone in authority know that he was here to help Jason. His lover's life might depend on no one knowing who Ian was. 

He opened the door to the building, stepped inside, and was brought up short by one word. 

"Edgerton." 

  



	4. Unexpected Backup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian meets an unusual pair.

**Part 4: Unexpected Backup -**

Ian went cold as his name was spoken. His head snapped towards the sound. A man he didn't recognize was standing up, a half-smile on his face. 

"Took you long enough to get here," the man said. 

Ian gave the man a quick appraisal. He wasn't dressed in a military or law officer's uniform or wearing a suit. He was well-built, sandy-haired and wearing old jeans, a white T-shirt and a jeans jacket. He was also carrying a sidearm. 

"Been waiting forever," the man continued in his gravelly voice. "Did Don tell you to _walk_ from the hospital?" 

Ian blinked at Don's name. "I, uh, took a taxi." 

"Well, while you were being driven all over town, I got our rental." the man said. "A truck and two 4x4s. Norvill here," he pointed to the clerk who was watching them with interest. "He keeps trying to talk me into hiring his cousin as a guide. But you and me know how to hunt, right?" 

"Right…" Ian said. Then his brain finally kicked into gear. "Not that you're going to catch anything. Last time all you got was a squirrel. But you said it had a twelve-point rack." 

The clerk laughed and the unknown man gave him a mock-glare. He took the keys from the clerk and motioned Ian towards the door. Ian picked up his bag and stepped outside. 

As soon as the door closed, the man said quickly, "Don sent me." 

"Don wasn't supposed to send anyone," Ian snapped. 

"Billy Cooper, FBI, Fugitive Recovery." 

Ian eyed him. "Agent Cooper-" 

"Call me Coop." 

"I don't need your help." 

"Tough," Coop said cheerfully. "You're going to get it." 

"I can do my own hunting." 

"Don't doubt it. Doesn't hurt to have us watching your back." 

" _Us?_ " Ian snapped. "Supposed to be under the radar here." 

Coop smiled. "What's more under the radar than two hunting buddies and their dog?" 

"What?" 

Coop whistled and a big dog came bounding up, a long-haired golden German Shepard. He said to the dog, “ _Freund_ ,” which Ian knew was the German word for ‘friend.’ Coop turned back to Ian and said, “Meet my partner Dutchess—Dutch.” 

"Your … partner?" 

"Have a hard time keeping the human kind. She watches my back and I scratch hers." 

"Listen, Coop, this isn't some fugitive that we have time to hunt down. This is my… my friend and if we don't find him before…" 

Coop held up his hand and let the truck keys dangle. "I know you've been talking to Math Boy and he probably told you which way to go. Tell me what you know on the way." 

Coop turned and walked towards a big pickup truck, Dutch on his heels. Hooked to the back of the truck was a trailer with two ATVs. Coop opened the driver's door and got in. To give himself a chance to think, Ian walked around the trailer, inspecting the ATVs and checking they were strapped down securely. 

By the time he circled the trailer, he knew he was going to accept Coop's help. To do anything else would take time he didn't have. As long as the highway patrol officer's life hung in the balance, Jason still had a chance. As soon as the officer died, Jason's life wouldn't be worth shit. 

He opened the passenger side door and climbed in. The man and the dog looked at him expectantly. As he buckled his seatbelt, he said, "Before I tell you anything, you're going to tell me who the hell you are and how the hell Don got you here so fast." 

Coop grinned. "Fair enough," he said and started the engine. 

* * *

  
Here's [a picture of Dutch](https://i.postimg.cc/T3KDtmt1/51-ZQSSSVBN3-J.jpg).

  



	5. Some Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian explains Jason's situation to Coop.

**Part 5: Some Explanations -**

Coop wasn't smiling anymore. 

He had been smiling when he told Ian about how he and Don had been partners in Fugitive Recovery, how Don had been the best human partner he'd ever had. He'd been smiling when he explained that he was still good friends with Don and now Don's husband, Will - and the twinkle in his eyes and the slight blush to his cheeks told Ian that maybe the three of them were more than just good friends. Coop had even been smiling when he told Ian that he'd been in Raleigh the last two weeks, giving a deposition, so he'd been just three hours away from Boone when Don had called. Don had known he was there, of course, since he'd been complaining to Don about having to be stuffed in a suit for two weeks straight. Coop had been more than happy to ditch the suit for a few days and help out a friend of Don. 

Ian let himself, for a brief moment, enjoy Coop's smile and his obvious affection for Don. Then he told him about Jason's situation. The smile vanished. 

"This Jason," Coop said. "Don't bite my head off, but is he your boyfriend?" 

Ian felt himself flush, an unpleasant and unusual occurrence, but he forced himself to answer the question honestly. If Coop was going to help him, he would have to trust him all the way. 

"Not in the usual sense," Ian said. "We're lovers and it's not just a casual thing. We've been… exclusive for over a year. But he's…" Ian sighed. "He's very conflicted about being gay. It's a deep, terrible, ugly self-hatred and I don't know why. It seems more than the usual homophobia." 

Coop nodded gravely. "Ok. Then he may not be happy to see us coming." 

"I have no idea how he's going to react," Ian admitted. 

Ian thought about how Jason always seemed on the edge of being overwhelmed by his self-anger and desperation. Or, like a panicked animal, turning and sinking his teeth into Ian instead. Every time he saw Jason, Ian knew that it was possibly the last time. When they'd just known each other a few months, Jason had said that he was absolutely certain of his 'sin' when he wasn't with Ian, yet when he was with Ian, he was so certain it was right. He had said that going from one state to the other hurt him more every time, and he wasn't sure how many more times he could survive it. Was this the time that finally broke Jason? Would Ian coming here, interfering in Jason's life, even if it was to save it, destroy their unspoken relationship? Even if he knew that coming to Boone would mean Jason would never want to see him again, Ian would make the same decision every time. 

"So," Coop said after Ian had been quiet too long. "What leads did Math Boy give you?" 

Ian shook himself and said, "A couple of suggestions, based on information that I gave him about Jason's childhood. I…" he flushed again. He hated that. "I got hold of Jason's classified file a few months ago. I wanted to see if there was an explanation for…" He waved his hand to indicate the whole of Jason’s issues. 

"Did you find one?" 

"Not in the file. But it wasn't a waste, since I was able to give Charlie a lot for him to plug into his probability analysis. However, we aren't going to one of those places Charlie gave me yet. We have another place to go first." 

"And where's that?" 

"St. Michael's Chapel." Ian gave him a humorless smile. "I feel the need to confess my sins." 

  



	6. Going to Church

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian tries to focus on his job and let Coop do his.

**Part 6: Going to Church -**

St. Michael's Chapel was a large, imposing Roman Catholic church. It had a prominent place in downtown Boone. There were still several police cars in the parking lot but the crime scene caution tape had been taken down from the door. Ian wasn't sure why until he walked inside, to see many people in the pews, deep in prayer. 

A man in the uniform of the Boone Police met them right inside the door, eyeing them suspiciously. 

"What's going on?" Ian asked innocently. 

"You aren't from around here," the officer stated. 

"No, sir," Ian said. "Is something wrong?" 

"Nothing you need to worry about. What's your business?" 

Ian gave him a confused look. "What?" 

"What are you doing here?" 

"I, uh, need to…" Ian waved over towards the confessional booths. 

The officer's eyes narrowed further. "Just now?" 

"I'm going hunting," Ian said. 

"Hunting what?" 

Ian frowned. "White tail." He turned to Coop. "You did check that the season is on, right? You swore you checked." 

"It's on," the officer said, seeming to ease at last. "You been hunting here before?" 

"No, sir," Ian said. "But I heard the white tail are amazing this year." 

The officer nodded. "I heard that too. Make sure you check all the regulations before you hunt." 

"Yes, sir," Ian said and gave Coop a pointed glance. "You did check about the ATVs, right?" 

"Yes, yes," Coop rolled his eyes. 

"So, can I…" Ian pointed towards the confessional booth. "I need to, before I go on a hunt. In case, you know…" He shrugged, putting an embarrassed look on his face. 

The officer smiled in comprehension. "The usual priest isn't… here right now, but there is another who can hear your confession." 

"Thanks." 

The officer looked at Coop. "You, too?" 

"Naw," Coop drawled. "I'm sinless." 

Ian and the officer smiled wryly at each other, as Coop shrugged and sat down in the nearest pew. Ian wasn't quite sure what he would have done if Coop hadn't been here, but Coop was. So now Ian would try giving Coop a chance to flash that smile around and see if he found out anything. If he didn't, Ian would have to make more…direct inquiries. 

For the moment, Ian was the distraction and the explanation for Coop being here. Ian leaned over to the officer and stage-whispered, "I'm just a lot better shot than he is. He doesn't have anything to worry about." 

Coop grunted a protest. The officer laughed and waved for Ian to go up the aisle. 

Ian's smile vanished as he walked up the aisle. A lump formed in his stomach. He'd never been in a confessional booth before, but he knew the routine. It had been drilled into him by Jason. Ian closed his eyes briefly as the image of Jason's whip-marked back blocked his vision. From the second time they'd met, Jason had needed a perverted form of confession in order to deal with his 'succumbing' to his homosexual desires. Ian had stood in for the priest, and belt-whipping was in place of penance. Each time, Jason would beg Ian to do it, and Ian couldn't tell him no, though he wanted to every time. The frequency and intensity of the act had slowly begun to fade, but still Jason needed it. 

Ian went into the booth and kneeled at the screen. He made the sign of the cross and said, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was three months ago." 

A voice from the other side of the screen began to speak, welcoming him and saying a scripture. Ian had to swallow bile as he suddenly felt nauseous. What he was doing was blasphemy, lying to a priest, which did bother him some, but it wasn't that. This was Jason's home church, where he had learned to be profoundly ashamed of his homosexuality, which had fed his self-hate, crippled him. Ian didn't doubt that Jason's family was also involved, but… 

Ian wanted to lash out at the voice on the other side of the screen, pour his anger and fear at Jason's lifetime struggles into the ear of someone that couldn't tell anyone. But regardless of the Seal of Confession, Ian needed to remain unmemorable. 

He gritted his teeth and began making up a story about stealing at an office job and lusting after his boss's wife. 

The priest talked with him about how to do better next time and Ian didn't argue. Ian came up with a few lesser sins - overdrinking, envy of his friend's new job, lying to a police officer to get out of a speeding ticket. The priest listened then told Ian what penance he needed to make. Ian mumbled the right words, the priest absolved him then dismissed him. Ian left the booth feeling shaky and sick. He went and kneeled in the pew, ostensibly to make his prayers of penance, but more to try to regain his equilibrium. He breathed deeply, did his own personal meditations, then slowly was able to focus back on why he was in Boone. It was like every time that Jason had asked him for that perversion of a confession - Jason needed him and Ian couldn't let his own discomfort get in the way. 

By the time he stood up from the pew, Ian felt steady. He hoped that he'd given Coop enough time to investigate, though he only had Coop's word that he was an agent at all. Ian really needed to call Don to confirm, but he'd gone with the gut instincts that had usually served him well in life. 

He walked back up the aisle and found Coop, who was chatting up a pretty blond woman in a prayer shawl. 

Coop smiled, took his leave of the woman, and joined Ian. They nodded to the officer, who held the church door open for them and watched them cross the parking lot. 

They walked back to the truck in silence, mindful of the officer's eyes on them. Dutch stuck her nose out the truck window and barked a greeting. 

As they got back in the truck, Coop said, "You couldn't have dragged it out a little longer? Come up with a few more sins?" 

"You didn't learn anything?" Ian said in disappointment. So much for gut instincts. 

"I didn't say that," Coop said with a lazy smile as he started the truck. "I-" 

A large black sedan screeched to a halt in front of the truck, blocking them. The car door flew open and a woman jumped out. 

Coop reached for his gun, but Ian put his hand on Coop's arm. 

"Wait," Ian said. 

" _Warten_ ," Coop said to Dutch, who had begun to growl. 

They all watched as the woman stalked over to Coop's side of the truck. She was tall, dressed in a very expensive suit, with perfectly coifed hair. She banged on the window. Coop looked at Ian then reluctantly rolled the window down. 

"Who are you?" snapped the woman. "And how do you know so much about my son?" 


	7. Meeting a Family Member

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian experiences the power of Jason's family firsthand.

**Part 7: Meeting a Family Member**

Ian held his breath as Coop stared down at the woman who had blocked their truck with her car, then stalked up to their window and started asking questions. 

"What did you say?" Coop asked. 

Behind them, Dutch growled in a way that Ian felt more than heard. 

"I said," the woman repeated sharply. "Who are you and how do you know so much about my son?" 

"Your son?" 

"You know what I'm talking about," the woman said. "Now, who are you and where is he?" 

A voice from behind her called out, "Mrs. Hill?" 

Ian looked over Coop's shoulder. It was the Boone cop from the church. 

"Mrs. Hill, is something wrong?" the cop asked, rushing up to the truck. 

"I don't know," Mrs. Hill said. "I will let you know if I need you." She held up her hand and waved the cop away. 

The cop flushed, but nodded. "I'll be right over there, ma'am." 

Coop let out a soft whistle that only Ian heard. Ian had to agree. It was one thing to know that Jason's family was a big deal in Boone, and another to see his mother dismissing local law enforcement like a butler. 

Ian leaned towards the window. "Excuse me, did you say 'Hill'?" 

Her sharp eyes turned to him. "Yes. I'm Nicole Hill." 

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Ian said pleasantly. "I know your son, Jason." 

"So you're the one that's been talking about him all over town." 

"I don't…" Ian stopped and muttered under his breath. _Dammit, the taxi ride._ He put on a smile. "Let me come around to you." 

As Ian sat up and began to get out of the truck, Coop murmured, "We'll be right here if you need us." 

Ian was about to argue that he could handle one middle-aged woman, then he just nodded. 

As Ian walked around the truck, he quickly reviewed what he knew about Nicole Hill _nee_ Robinson. She was from an old Charlotte family, one with deep community ties but little money until she married Christian Hill. She now ran the Hill Family Charitable Foundation with one of her daughters and was a powerhouse in regional politics. 

Ian concocted his story quickly. 

He came around the truck and gave a slight bow of his head. "Major Edgerton, ma'am. I know Jason. My friend here doesn't know him. Is he around?" 

"What do you mean?" she snapped. 

Ian put on a confused look. "I just thought… I haven't talked to him in months but I've been trying to call him." 

"Why?" 

Ian smiled his 'I'm just trying to understand' smile. "I'm sorry, is something wrong? Is something up with Jason?" 

"Why would you ask that?" Her mouth was a tight line, her body posture ready for attack. 

Ian took a step back and held up his hands. "Let me start again. Major Edgerton here, ma'am. I've served under Jason in the Army. He was my CO in Afghanistan. He always talked about the hunting here, especially white tail, so I came with a buddy to try my luck." 

"Now?" she snapped. "Today? You just happened to be in the area? And with all this personal information about Jason?" 

"The white tail season is on," Ian said. "I don't do bow or blackpowder, and gun season just opened last week. I want to get in before the weather turns." 

She eyed him. Even if she wasn't a hunter herself, she had to know that those were the sort of things that hunters worried about. 

"And all this private information about my son that you're sharing with everyone?" 

"Sharing?" Ian asked, raising his eyebrows. "I just got into town, I haven't been sharing anything with anyone." 

"You were…heard on the phone with detailed and comprehensive information about Jason's upbringing." 

"The phone?" he asked. "I haven't been…" He widened his eyes. "That taxi driver?" 

"Yes," she said, unapologetic. "You normally know so much about your CO?" 

"Probably not," Ian said with a wry smile. "But the Lt. Col. and I are very close." He leaned a fraction towards her. " _Very_ close." 

The pinching of her nostrils and the twitch of one side of her mouth told Ian everything. She suspected that Jason was gay and was horrified by it. 

Ian pulled back and spun out his story. "When you're pinned down by sniper fire for days on end and there doesn't seem to be any way out, there's not much to do but talk. And you never talk about the situation, you talk about happy things like your childhood and hobbies and where you grew up. Jason probably knows more about me than my wife." 

The last word seemed to settle Mrs. Hill and she gave him the faintest of smiles. "I see." 

"Sorry I gave you cause to be concerned," Ian said. "But is he in town? That would be great! He could show me all the places that he said were best for hunting." 

The tightness returned to her face. "No, he's not in town right now." 

"Oh, shame. I've been trying to call him, it would be funny to say, 'Guess where I am,' and tease him that I'm hunting his deer." 

"He's probably busy right now." 

"Yes, probably," Ian said with a shrug. "I'll tell him about it later, once I bag my twelve-pointer." 

Mrs. Hill gave a short nod then said stiffly, "If you do…get a hold of him, please tell him that his mother urgently needs to talk with him." 

"Oh, is everything alright? I didn't expect me talking about Jason would have such strong reactions in people. He's not in trouble or anything, is he?" 

"Of course not," she said curtly. "There are just some things his father and I need to discuss with him. Immediately. Tell him that I don't want him going to…anyone else before he talks with us." She put on a false smile. "Good luck in your hunting, Major." 

"Thank you, ma'am," Ian said. It came out a little more intense than Ian intended and she gave him a sharp look. 

Smiling, he gave her another head bob, turned, and walked back to his side of the truck. He got into the truck and she was still standing there, looking after him with a frown. Ian deliberately fumbled putting his seat belt on and by the time he looked back up, she was getting into her car. He blew out a breath. 

"Damn," Coop said softly. "No wonder you said you have to keep your head down." 

Ian nodded. After meeting Nicole Hill, he wasn't sure that if Jason came to her now, whether she would choose to help him…or bury him. She seemed like a woman who was very focused on her own position, and she might do whatever she needed to make sure that Jason's troubles didn't tarnish her. And she had the local law under her heel. 

Ian suddenly hated this town. The green, cheerful, homey appearance now felt like a sinister façade. 

"Let's go find Jason," Ian growled. "Before his friends or family do." 


	8. What Coop Learned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coop details the results of his investigation at the church.

**Part 8: What Coop Learned**

Coop started the truck and they pulled out of the church parking lot. They drove down the street, around the corner, and out of the sight of the cop and Mrs. Hill, then Coop pulled into a gas station. 

He parked along the back side of the station, then turned to Ian. "Okay, this is what I got." 

Coop paused and rubbed his chin, then said, "Your boy Jason and Scott were good friends growing up, along with another boy named Max. Which is why people can't figure out why Jason killed Scott and tried to kill Max." 

Ian frowned. "Max is the Highway Patrol officer that Jason is supposed to have shot? He knew him?" 

"Oh yeah, they were thick as thieves, even as recent as a few years ago. Jason came back to town for his sister's wedding a couple of years ago and they were best of buddies. The three of them - Max, Scott and Jason - shut down a local bar with their party." 

Ian shook his head in confusion. "So what happened?" 

"The police found Max in the back room of the church after Jason's 911 call. He'd been shot but he was able to stop the bleeding and survive though he wasn't conscious anymore. He's in surgery right now. People figure that there was some sort of fight between Scott, Max and Jason, and Father Lane tried to break it up. No one knows why the fight was at the church, though they were all members of the church from childhood." 

Ian nodded slowly. "Anything else?" 

"Father Lane is generally well-liked. People were glad to have him back after an extended health problem. They have no idea why Jason would kidnap him, unless he needed to confess or something and didn't have time before the police came." 

Ian grimaced, as the image of Jason in confessional was always painful. Still, he was impressed by all Coop learned. "Not bad." 

Coop grinned. "I ain't just a pretty face." 

Ian smiled faintly then thought over all Coop had said. None of it made any sense. None of it sounded like the Jason he knew. Or maybe he didn't know him as well as he thought? No, he couldn't start doubting Jason. There had to be more to the story. 

"Good to know," he said to Coop at last. "But doesn't add anything that I think Charlie needs to plug into his equations. We still have three locations that Charlie thinks are the most likely for Jason to hide at. We'll go to the closest one first, the one that doesn't require those ATVs that you rented." 

He frowned, remembering that he was undercover and they needed to act like a pair of hunters here to shoot some deer. 

"Once we're into the woods, it'll be easy." Ian said. "But I don't know how in Hell we're going to justify walking into a library." 

  



	9. Down in the Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian hopes that he'll get lucky on the first try.

**Part 9: Down in the Darkness**

It was surprisingly easy. 

Coop was obviously better at going undercover than he was and Ian tried not to resent it. Coop seemed able to bluff his way through any situation. It was probably the smile. 

Whatever it was, they were now sitting in the Appalachian State University library, looking at charts of white tail deer kills. Ian would have thought that these would be kept at the tagging stations, where you took your kill to be weighed and logged, but these were historical documents. The librarian seemed charmed that two hunters could read well enough to want to check out maps and logs from past year's hunts. Or maybe it was just how she melted under Coop's handling. It was definitely the smile. 

Ian stood up from the table and stretched his back. He leaned over Coop's shoulder and murmured, "Going to check out our bolt hole." 

Coop nodded and turned a page on the log book. 

Ian moved casually away, glancing at books as he walked. As soon as he was out of sight of anyone, he picked up his pace. He expertly avoided the various students scattered throughout the library, as well as the few surveillance cameras. Jason would have been able to do the same. 

He got to the back of the library and found the door for the furnace room. After looking around, he quickly picked the simple lock. He went inside, shut the door behind him, and stood, blinking, to get his eyes adjusted to the dark. Then he listened. 

The furnace room, as he knew from an incidence obliquely referred to in Jason's file, was one entrance to a series of rooms and extensive tunnels that went under the library and out under the parking garage behind it. As some point when he was working towards his Bachelor's degree in Biology, Jason learned about hazing that had been going on, where freshmen were blindfolded, taken deep into the tunnels, then left to find their way out. Jason had gone to the tunnels himself and found a 17-year-old girl, who had been wandering without food, water, or shoes for over a day. He'd gotten her out of there and taken her to the Dean. It had been a nasty scandal, but Jason's name had never been part of the official reports. Jason hadn't wanted credit and, not surprisingly considering his family name, the school had agreed to leave him out of it. Ian would have bet, however, that Jason had returned to the tunnels himself until he had memorized them, and made sure that nothing else was going on down here. It's what Ian would have done. 

That had been years ago, however, and Ian was sure that students had figured out a way to get back into the tunnels again. No useful space like this would be able to keep enterprising students out indefinitely. 

Ian didn't hear anything but the soft hum of machinery. He turned on his flashlight and checked out the floor. There was a faint layer of dust. The last footsteps that had passed this way had been perhaps a week ago. He continued to look around, however. Jason was more than capable of passing through without leaving an obvious trail. Ian remembered, though, that Jason wasn't alone. Had he really grabbed the Father for a delayed confessional? More likely Jason needed a hostage and Father Lane was the unlucky bystander. He was probably elderly and easy to control. Perhaps he was also a high-value hostage in this area. Though he probably talked Jason's ear off about the sins he was committing. Jason would have been able to disappear better on his own. He must have a plan that required a hostage. 

Ian shook his head at his circular thoughts and continued to search. He went down the hallway, looking for other entrances. He didn't find any sign that anyone had been here recently. He looked for just a little while longer, hoping that somehow Jason would be there. 

Finally, he stopped, turned off his flashlight and stood in the darkness. 

"Jase?" he called loudly. 

He waited a moment and called again. 

No answer but the darkness. 

"Jase," he said, more quietly. "Jason, where are you? What the fuck is going on and why didn't you call me? Damn it, leave me some breadcrumbs! Let me help you…" 

He stood for another moment in the darkness. His ears strained for any sound. He breathed in only dust. 

He sighed. Then he straightened his shoulders, turned his flashlight back on and got back on the hunt. 


	10. Heading Out of Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coop and Ian talk on the way to the next location.

**Part 10 - Heading Out of Town**

Ian met Coop out in the library parking lot. As he got into the truck, he shook his head at Coop's questioning look. 

"Would have been too easy," Coop said cheerfully. "I don't expect your boy to be that easy to find." 

"I wouldn't mind easy," Ian grumbled. He'd hoped that Charlie's analysis would have given him an edge that the local cops didn't have. He'd come to rely on Charlie's voodoo too much. Hunts weren't supposed to be easy, and Jason was as hard as a target as Ian had ever had. 

And most of the time, Ian's targets ended up getting shot. 

"Notice the name of the building across from us?" Coop asked. 

Ian looked over to see the 'Henrietta H. Hill Science Complex' on a huge structure nearby. He grimaced. Jason's family was everywhere. 

"Alright," Coop said. "Where next?" 

"Family hunting lodge," Ian said. He opened his bag to get out his notebook with the addresses that Charlie had given him. 

"Wouldn't the cops have already checked there?" 

"His family has a dozen of them, scattered around. This one is little used and Charlie thought that it might have been overlooked." 

Coop smiled. "Never doubt Math Boy." 

Coop called to Dutch in the back seat. "You'll get out soon, Dutch. No more churches or libraries." 

Dutch gave a happy yip. 

Ian looked at the big golden German Retriever. "Is she really your partner, or just your dog?" 

Coop shot him an annoyed look as he put the truck into gear. "She's as capable as any agent, more than most. She doesn't complain, go to sleep, argue or forget which side she's on." 

"Which one of those did Don do?" 

Coop chuckled, his easy good mood restored. "All of them. Though he never shot me." 

Ian raised his eyebrows. "That a common problem?" 

"Just twice. And at least one of those times was a mistake." 

Ian laughed in spite of himself. 

"Manhunting brings out the worst in people." 

"Don't I know it. That's why I go solo." 

"I'm usually stateside," Coop said, "So having Dutch works great. I know you go all over the world." 

Ian eyed him. "How do you know that?" 

"Oh, I've heard of you." 

Ian grimaced. He both liked and disliked having a reputation. It was nice to be respected and have his pick of work, but it also gave people unreasonable expectations. 

"And I talked to Don about you when he told me to come lend a hand. I'm glad you're both square after that stunt you pulled in the prison." 

"Was not my favorite case," Ian allowed. That was a vast understatement, and he'd been hurt that he'd not been trusted by Don's team, but it had worked out. His greatest fear at the time was that Jason would find out and try to interfere - it had also been his secret hope. But Jason hadn't found out until later, and his anger at Ian's gamble had been tempered by the knowledge that Ian had been vindicated. 

Now Ian was trying to interfere in a problem of Jason's that he had no idea what was going on, and his interference might be the worst thing possible for Jason. But Ian couldn't _not_ interfere. 

"He has a total hard-on for you," Coop was saying. 

"What?" Ian asked, sure he missed something. 

"Math Boy," Coop said. "I talked to him, too. He practically grabbed the phone from Don and started babbling how I needed to help you. I couldn't make sense of much of it, but yeah, Charlie might be a married man, but he'd love to polish your handcuffs anytime." 

Ian winced. He'd hoped that particular obsession of Charlie was in the past. At least Ian had been able to have a normal conversation with him, as normal as a conversation full of math terms and metaphors could be. 

"So you already know," Coop said with a grin. 

"Hard to miss," Ian grumbled. "Some people get turned on by my…reputation." 

Coop chuckled. "Don't tell me that you've never used that." 

Ian opened his mouth to protest, then had to shrug in agreement. He had used it at times. 

But not with Jason. When they'd met, Jason had seen him as a person, and that was goddamned rare these days. 

He turned and looked out the window. Coop thankfully took the cue and they drove in silence. The streets of the picturesque town turned into country roads and the Appalachian landscape closed in. Ian automatically cataloged tree types and signs of wildlife, but his conscious thoughts were going in the same useless circles that they'd been since he first got the phone call from Jason's CO. What was Ian going to say to Jason if he found him? _When_ he found him? 

Just ask how he could help, Ian told himself. Questions, explanations, and his hurt at Jason not trusting him enough to call him could all wait. Save Jason from the situation first. Demands later. 

"Uh-oh," Coop said. 

Ian looked over to see Coop's eyes on his side-view mirror. Ian turned to look out the back window, but his view was blocked by the ATV trailer. He looked over his other shoulder, just in time to see a North Carolina Highway Patrol car shoot by them, lights off. Another came quickly behind. By his estimate, there just a few miles away from the Hill family hunting lodge. 

"Dammit," Ian said and reached for his cellphone. 

It rang before he could get it out of his pocket. 

"I'm sorry, Ian," Charlie said in a low voice. "They got him." 

  



	11. Assessing the Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian goes to rescue Jason.

**Part 11: Assessing the Situation**

"They got him?" Ian's chest hurt and his hand was gripped too tight on the phone. "He's dead?" 

"No! No," Charlie said quickly. "At least not as far as I know. I just meant that he's been taken into custody." 

Ian's death grip on the phone eased a little. "Who? Local or the Highway Patrol?" 

"Highway patrol. They found him at the hunting lodge I sent you to. Had you been there already?" 

"No," Ian said, "We're on our way there now." He ground his teeth. If they'd just skipped the church and the library, they would have gotten here before the Jason had gotten grabbed. "Is anyone hurt?" 

Charlie talked to someone off the phone, presumably the fellow hacker Matt. He came back and said, "Not that was reported on the scanner, and it would have been reported, I believe." 

Ian was surprised. Pleasantly so, however. With the mood that Jason seemed to be in, Ian had expected there to be bloodshed at his capture. After all, he'd already killed one officer. Ian had also expected the highway patrol to be thinking shoot-first-then-arrest-later, with an armed fugitive that had killed a fellow officer. 

"Hostage is still unaccounted for," Charlie said. 

Ian frowned. After all the effort for Jason to drag him along, he had left him somewhere? 

Charlie added, "They're doing another sweep of the grounds, looking for the hostage." 

"Wait, Jason's still there? At the lodge?" 

"The probability is high. In order to do a thorough search of a property that size, I estimate that they would require at least four officers to do a matrix search, while also maintaining procedural safety." 

"We saw-" 

"Matt says that six more officers are in route, but not expected to arrive for at least twenty minutes, even at a high rate of speed." 

"Good." 

"Wait, you said, 'we.' Did Coop find you?" 

"Yes, we're in his truck." 

"Excellent! Do you two know each other? Don wasn't sure if you'd met. I can vouch for Agent Cooper's qualifications, if you would like." 

Ian realized that Coop was slowing down, and he turned to look around. 

"It's just around the corner," Coop said. 

Ian nodded. To Charlie, he said, "We're there. Talk to you later." 

"What are you going to do?" Charlie asked. 

Ian hung up without answering. He pointed to a gravel area off the side of the road. "Park there." 

Coop raised his eyebrows but pulled off the road. He turned off the truck and looked at Ian. "Now what?" 

"Highway patrol has Jason. They're still combing the grounds for the hostage. We have maybe twenty minutes before backup arrives. We go…assess the situation." Ian checked his handgun then reached into the seat behind him for his rifle. 

Dutch was sitting on it. 

"Move," Ian said but the dog gave a low growl. 

"Are you planning on busting your friend out?" Coop asked. 

Ian looked at Coop but the other man just seemed curious, not upset. 

"Maybe," Ian said. "If it looks like his life is in danger." 

"Okay," Coop said with a crooked smile. To Dutch, he said, " _Aus!_ " 

The dog immediately moved off the rifle case. 

"She's very well trained," Ian grumbled. 

"Told you she was more than my pet." 

Ian got his rifle and Coop went to the back of the truck and returned with his own rifle. Ian gave the rifle a quick once-over. You could tell a lot about a person by looking at their weapon. Coop's rifle valued speed and usability over flashiness and had a lot of mileage on it. Not as much as Ian's rifle, but experienced nonetheless. 

Ian nodded and Coop locked up the truck and they began walking up the road. A turnoff was right ahead, with a faded sign that said, "Blue Hill Lodge." They turned up the lane and Ian took point. He found a wildlife track near the road and lead them on to it. 

The two behind him were noisier than he'd like, but he gritted his teeth and didn't say anything. Hopefully the highway patrol officers were too busy to notice them coming. He kept an eye out for officers searching the woods. 

It was a long seven minutes before they arrived within sight of a good-sized building. He waved for Coop to keep hidden. The building was larger than an average family house, with an expensive wooden façade, but it was showing signs of neglect. On the left of the building was an overgrown garden merging into the woods behind it. On the right was a small gravel parking lot, with three highway patrol cars in it. 

One of the cars was occupied. 

Ian tensed. He could see the back of a man's head in the backseat, his hair Army short and dark brown. 

Ian wanted to run out right now but forced himself to survey the situation. He couldn't see any officers, but they would keep an eye on the car while they searched the lodge and the area. The patrol cars that had passed them on the way here only had one officer each, so there was likely only four, at maximum. Ian and Coop could easily take them out. 

Take them out? Then what? Have a manhunt for all three of them? 

And if Jason had gotten caught, it had to be part of a plan. Jason was too good to be captured by a handful of state troopers. Maybe he had stashed his hostage somewhere, to be bargained with later. Four more dead officers, and there would be no bargaining. 

Ian's breath caught in his chest. Was this the point he was at - willing to kill four innocent LEOs to free Jason momentarily? He was considering it. 

Damn it, he was considering it. 

"That your boy?" Coop whispered. 

Something about the way Coop asked made Ian stop and look again. Was that Jason? Or was he just a little too tall, a little too wide? 

"Need to get closer." 

"Got you covered," Coop said, bringing his rifle around. 

Ian didn't ask, covered for what, just nodded and started creeping towards the lodge. The windows were all blocked by drawn shades, and he would just have to hope that the officers weren't watching out in that direction. They had no reason to believe that Jason had help coming. 

_Jason_ had no reason to believe that help was coming, because dammit, he hadn't asked for it. 

Ian squashed the thought and focused on his approach. The overgrown vegetation offered a lot of cover and Ian was able to get fairly close to the car without being able to be seen from the front door of the lodge. 

Then there was a stretch of gravel between him and the car. He took a deep breath then, keeping low, moved with measured pace across the space. The urge was to run, but quick movements catch the eye. 

He got to the back of the car and circled around it, still out of sight of the car windows. 

At the far side of the car, he found himself reluctant to stand up. If that was Jason in there, what was he going to do? There was no way he could leave him there. He would open the car door and offer to release him, if he wanted. 

Nodding, he braced himself and stood up. 

It wasn't Jason. 

The startled face that stared at him was similar to Jason's, but this man was taller and older. He had large muscles and wide shoulders, far from Jason's lean body and feline grace. Still, an officer who was only working off a photo might mistake him for Jason. 

"C.J." Ian said softly. Jason's brother had a similar haircut to Jason's, but his face had none of Jason's cool determination. C.J. showed signs of a life of dissipation, and a recent heavy slide into alcohol. His trainer-bulked muscles were going soft and his tanning-bed skin tone was fading. His nose and cheeks were red, his eyes were blood-shot, and his skin sagging, like he had lost weight recently. 

All these things Ian saw in a flash. 

Then he was ducking down again below the car windows. 

He breathed in a shuddering breath and briefly closed his eyes. He wasn't going to have to break the law or kill anybody for Jason, at least not yet. 

Opening his eyes, he examined the area around him, then decided to move along the cars, keeping them between him and the house. Then he could cross into the woods beyond and circle back around to where Coop was. Then it was just a matter of moving, letting his skills and instincts guide him while his brain was too numb with relief. 

He made it back around to Coop's side just as they heard cars approaching up the driveway. 

"Not him," Coop said without Ian saying anything. 

"His brother," Ian said. 

"Thought he could hide out in his family's lost hunting lodge and gets caught by his brother's dragnet." 

Ian nodded. "He saw me, but just briefly." 

"I saw your progress," Coop said. "Very smooth." 

Ian eyed him but couldn't tell if he was joking. "We need to get out of here." 

"Why? We're just hunters looking for white-tail." 

"True, though I'd rather not have to explain myself to a bunch of angry LEOs." 

"Yeah." 

Ian took point again and they walked back through the woods. Ian was sweaty and shaking with the aftereffects of relief and adrenaline. 

They made it back to the truck and pulled onto the road - just before a slew of Highway Patrol cars, sirens wailing, came up the road and turned into the lodge's road. 

"Whew," Coop said. 

Ian nodded and wiped his forehead. "Hopefully these guys were pulled away from wherever Jason really is." 

Ian got out his phone. "Alright, time to check in again with - what did you call him? - Math Boy. I was really hoping that this was the place, because I'm not sure that we can find place number three." 

Ian thought about the police that had just gone towards the lodge. If they couldn't find Jason, then they would come back and make sure that the Highway Patrol was far too busy to go after him. 

Whatever the cost. 


	12. On the Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian tries to find a new track.

**Chapter 12: On the Trail--**

"Head north," Ian told Coop, then dialed Charlie. 

"Ian!" Charlie said, "I didn't think you would-" 

"It's not Jason." 

"What?" 

"They have C.J." 

"Who?" 

"C.J. Christian Jr. Jason's brother." 

"Oh… Oh! Good!" 

"They'll figure it out soon enough. Do you have any more information that can help me find the hunting shack?" 

"So you've been to the library, as well? Of course, it was the logical logistical path with the highest probability of a…" 

"Charlie," Ian snapped, then gritted his teeth. To get 'Professor Eppes' to function always took careful handling, even more so these days since Charlie had developed an annoying sexual fascination with him. "We went to the church, then the library, then the lodge. Now we need more help. Did you find the shack or do you have any other ideas?" 

"Actually," Charlie noisily shifted the phone. "Matt did some excellent work breaking- _accessing_ the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission database and found a… I think they call it a Big Game Harvest ID, for Jason's father two years ago. I should narrow our parameters." 

"Tell me." Ian wrote down a GPS coordinate range as Charlie rattled it off. 

"It covers about 18.9 square miles, but it was the closest we could come." 

"That's close enough," Ian said. "Good work." 

"Of course!" Ian could almost hear Charlie's pleased smile. 

Ian was about to hang up when Charlie said, "Wait!" 

"What?" 

"The Highway Patrol Officer made it through surgery. He's still in critical condition, though." 

Ian blinked in surprise. He was so used to thinking that the local LEOs were on a manhunt for a cop killer, that it was hard to adjust. So right now they were just searching for Jason as a cop-shooter and cold-blooded killer of civilians. 

Ian asked, "Prognosis?" 

"Um, no one thought he'd make it this far. I'd put it at a 5% chance of survival, which isn't very promising-" 

"But it's not dead. That's something. Do they think if he survives, he'll be able to talk?" Ian grimaced. Did he even want this officer to talk? What if he implicated Jason? 

"I don't know. I was busy working on-" 

"Just let me know if the officer's status changes." 

"I will." 

"Thanks, Charlie. And tell your friend thanks for his excellent work." 

Ian hung up the phone with almost a smile, as Charlie simultaneously tried to laud Matt's work and lobby for his own contribution. 

"Good news?" Coop asked. 

"Yes," Ian said. He began punching in the GPS coordinates into his phone. "The Highway Patrol officer survived surgery, so Jason isn't being hunted as a cop-killer, not yet." 

"That is good news." 

Ian nodded, studying the map and the square that the GPS coordinates gave him. "When the road forks up here, take the left fork and keep heading north. I'm guessing that we'll be able to get within 30 miles of the area and have to take the ATVs." 

"Good thing I thought to rent them, then." 

"Yeah," Ian said vaguely. He looked out the window. They were headed towards a favored hunting ground of Jason's, one of the places he'd spent his childhood in, honing the skills that would eventually make him one of the Army's most prized snipers and leader of covert ops. There was no one on the planet, even Ian, who could walk into there and take Jason alive, if he didn't want to be. This was far more stupid than even the time Ian went alone into the Idaho wilderness after a serial murderer. Ian had carried no doubts in Idaho that if he saw his target in his sights that he'd be able to pull the trigger. This time… 

What would Jason see when he looked through his sights at Ian? Would he see his lover and secret-holder, or would he see a LEO come to take him down for his crimes? For all Jason knew, the FBI was officially coming after him. He'd already killed a close friend, attacked another, and taken a hostage. 

Maybe this was the real Jason Hill surfacing and Ian had only been fooling himself before. Ian rarely ever connected with any human, and he'd felt more in tune with Jason than anyone he could remember. The idea that it was all fake, that Jason was somehow playing him… 

Ian's hand was hurting. He looked down to see that he'd gripped his phone so tightly that his knuckles were white. He forced his hand to relax, but couldn't unclench his jaw. 

He just wanted this uncertainty to be over, to either have Jason's arms around him or Jason's bullet in his brain. 

All his life he'd been taught that becoming close to people was dangerous, that it hurt you, muddled you, risked your life. He'd lost sight of that somewhere along the way. 

It had started with Don and his team, when they over time became more than just occasional contacts, growing into something as close as Ian had to friends. 

Then Jason came along, with his silences, his old eyes in his young body, his understanding. 

Even the man driving the truck that Ian was sitting in now, who seemed to be competent and likeable, even if he was humming off-key under his breath and his dog was panting in Ian's ear. 

Damn it, Ian had let himself trust people, rely on people, something he swore he'd never do. 

If he found Jason, then discovered that Jason was really the monster they said he was… If Ian survived the encounter... 

He was giving up on trust, on people, and burning up all his relationships. 

Then he was walking into the woods and never coming back. 

  



	13. Real Tracking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian reluctantly takes Coop with him deep into the woods.

**Chapter 13: Real Tracking**

They were arguing about vests. 

Ian and Coop were standing, toe to toe, yelling at each other about the goddamn orange vests hunters wear. 

Coop was saying that they needed the vests, that they were essential to their cover, that no real deer hunter would go into the woods without them. There were supposed to stop other deer hunters from mistaking them for game and shooting them. Coop said that they should have been wearing them when they went to the lodge and fucking should be wearing them now. 

Ian was insisting that they needed to be able to move through the woods without being seen, if they ever had the chance to avoid Jason and the cops chasing him. And he'd never in his life worn one of the ugly things and wasn't fucking going to start now. 

They pulled back, panting slightly and glaring at each other. Dutch was behind Coop, her hackles raised and glaring at Ian in her own way. 

"Fuck it," Ian admitted at last. "I just don't want you going with me." 

"Why the Hell not? We've been helpful so far with the…" 

"It's going to be as hard enough tracking Jason without dragging the two of you along. You sound like a herd of elephants going through the brush. He's not some stupid fugitive that you're used to going after that's never been outdoors in his life. Jason is the best." 

Coop eyed him. "You need someone to watch your back. Until we find out if Jason is a victim or a killer." 

"Oh, he's a killer, alright," Ian said with a wry laugh. "Just usually the bad guys." 

"Fine, I get it," Coop snapped. "I'm not a goddamned wood pixie like you are. But you're not exactly thinking clearly here. Jason could just shoot you while you're trying to talk to him." 

Ian shrugged. Maybe Jason would shoot him _then_ talk to him. 

"But we are coming, whether you want us to or not. It's your choice whether we are with you or trailing you. I can guarantee that we're going to make a lot more noise trailing you." 

Ian glared at him, knowing that he was right. 

"Besides," Coop said with a smirk. "Unless you want to walk, you're going to need one of those ATVs and I ain't giving you the keys." 

"I could take them from you." 

Coop's smirk vanished and he went very still. "Yes, you could try. Then one of us will wind up hurt or dead and Jason would still be in trouble." 

Ian swore under his breath and spun away. He clenched his fists and kicked at a nearby rock, as his thoughts circled uselessly in his head. This might be the most important hunt of his life and he needed to be doing it alone. He worked better alone and didn't need a chatty city bastard and his dog along for the ride. Still, he needed the ATV. There was an ATV trail winding away from the place they'd found to park the truck and he didn't have time to walk. State Police could already be combing these woods. Then there was the slight possibility that Coop could help him when they did find Jason. Adding more targets if nothing else. 

He turned and came back to the truck. Coop was unstrapping the ATVs from their tie-downs. 

Coop raised his eyebrows. "You done?" 

Ian nodded curtly and went to get the ugly orange vests. 

The trip into the woods would have been pleasant if it wasn't for their mission. Ian didn't usually like ATVs - they were loud and destructive, but today he could appreciate their relative speed. The woods themselves were spectacular, with only the ATV track breaking up their natural beauty. It was easy to picture Jason here as a kid, climbing trees and tracking squirrels. He kept one eye on his GPS tracker and the other on the woods, though they were really moving too fast to spot tracking signs. Coop was behind him, driving with a sort of grim intensity, Dutch on the seat behind him. Coop had obviously not been on ATVs a lot and was not enjoying the experience. Still, he stayed right behind Ian, following Ian's lead as he avoided hazards and navigated a path that forked and forked again. 

When Ian started getting close to the GPS area, he began to slow down. At this speed, he could see signs that an ATV had passed this way very recently. He allowed himself a small hope that they were on Jason's trail at last. 

His ATV slowed and slowed again as the search area neared. Finally, he reached walking speed and began to look for a place to leave the ATVs. They were going to need quiet, if they had any hope of tracking Jason. 

He pulled off into a clearing and Coop followed. Coop looked stiff as he got off his ATV, and Ian worried all over again about Coop's abilities. Coop straightened up and stretched, then began to unbuckle the harness that he'd used to secure his dog to the back seat of the ATV. Dutch looked as eager as Coop to get off the noisy, bumpy machine. 

Ian strapped his rifle across his back and checked his sidearm. He noted the GPS coordinates of where they'd left the ATVs, then nodded to the others. He turned and walked briskly down the path, not checking to make sure they were behind him. He could hear them well enough. 

Very quickly, Ian found what he was hoping for - fresh ATV tracks. An ATV had travelled this way less than 12 hours before, and it was heavy, perhaps carrying two people. 

A fugitive and a hostage. 

Ian began to walk faster. 

He entered a fugue of tracking, taking this turn then the next without slowing. The hard, dry dirt only yielded the occasional sign but it was enough. He almost missed a turn where the ATV he was tracking had made a U-turn before going on another path. Did Jason think he was being followed or was just a wrong turn? Regardless, Ian tracked on. 

Ian had slowed down before he even was consciously aware of it. He blinked his vision clear and saw a parked ATV. He looked around quickly but it seemed to be just off the side of a path. Examining the ATV, he saw signs of two riders and that the ATV had just been parked here for a few hours. It had to be Jason. It had to be. Ian couldn't tolerate the thought that he'd wasted all this time on a joyrider. 

Ian found two sets of footprints heading further along the trail - one confident pair of Army boots, one slower set of soft-soled loafers. Ian smiled in relief. No one planning on going into the woods would have been wearing those loafers. 

"It is him?" 

To his embarrassment, Ian jumped at Coop's voice. He glared at Coop, who didn't seem to notice. Coop was panting a little, as was the dog at his heels. 

"I think so," Ian answered grudgingly. He pointed out the loafer prints. "Not likely to see shoes like that on anyone that knows the woods." 

"The missing priest." 

Ian nodded and Coop unslung the rifle from his back. Ian hesitated then followed suit. He wasn't going to use the rifle, but he could at least use the long-distance sight on the barrel. And Coop couldn't slow him down with arguments about how he needed to be prepared to shoot if he caught up with Jason. He was having enough of those arguments with himself. 

Ian nodded again and began following the prints. 

They went off the ATV path and onto narrow footpath. 

After just a few minutes, the trees opened up into a clearing. Ian raised his hand to keep Coop back, then examined the clearing from the shade of the trees. The footprints he'd been following led right up to a good-sized hunting shack against the woods on the far side of the clearing. 

He froze. 

There was noise from inside the shack. 

He'd found Jason at last. 

  



	14. Springing the Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian thinks he's got Jason run to ground.

**Chapter 14: Springing the Trap**

Ian was watching the shack. He was still in the same spot he'd been when he heard noise from inside the hunting shack and had been watching the shack for almost ten minutes. Coop behind him hadn't complained, and his dog was sitting quietly next to Ian. 

Like Ian, they could tell that something was wrong. 

Ian couldn't put his finger on it so he continued to watch. 

It was a very nice shack, as things go. It looked waterproof and weatherproof. There was easily room for six hunters to bed down inside, plus their gear. Though there wasn't running water or electricity - that sort of thing would have made a paperwork trail that Charlie, or local LEOs, could have tracked - it probably had an indoor privy hole. Ian had stayed at hotels that were worse. 

It looked perfectly pleasant, with the occasional noise from inside. 

After examining it with his eyes, Ian had raised his rifle sight and was now going over the shack in more detail. 

Finally, Coop said softly, "There's a lock on the outside of the door." 

Ian frowned and brought his rifle sight to the door. 

Coop was right - there was a small padlock on the _outside_ of the door. Was it possible that they had just tracked down Jason's hostage stash and not Jason himself? Ian shook his head. The ATV was still parked nearby and there was no single set of footprints going back down the trail. 

But Jason could haven't had locked himself in. 

Ian began scanning the clearing for other signs. As soon as he started looking for them, he found them - traps to sound the alarm if anyone approaching the shack. Or tried to escape from it. 

The alarm traps didn't look they would make a lot of noise, so… 

Jason had to be nearby. 

Willing himself patience, Ian began visually mapping out the clearing. Jason would have to have locked the door, then set up _that_ trap, then moved _there_ and affixed that branch _there_. Finally, Ian mentally reached a clump of trees that would allow all the traps to be set plus offer a perfect line-of-sight of the shack. Though he couldn't see him, Jason had to be there. Ian's heartrate jumped and he spent a moment calming it. 

When he was sure his voice would be steady, he said quietly, "Clump of sugar maples at 10 o'clock." 

"Which what?" Coop whispered back. 

"Sugar maples," Ian snapped. "Medium brown rough bark, in cluster of three about an armspan around each. Leaves like the Canadian flag." 

"Okay, I see the trees. Where is he?" 

"He has to be there." 

Coop made a skeptical sound but didn't argue. "What's the plan?" 

"Well, since we have those ugly orange vests, why don't you pretend to be hunting white tail and maybe trip a few traps?" 

Coop grinned. "Be a clumsy, stupid hunter from New York? I can do that." 

Coop scooted back down the trail, Dutch following. Ian buried himself deeper into the woods. 

After a moment, Coop came up the trail, whistling. 

"C'mon, girl," he called and Dutch raced by him. 

"Not seen anything on fouh legs but you," Coop complained, his New York accent heavy. "Why did I schlep all the way out heah for nothin'? Where's that guide I paid big moolah foh? Ditched me. Shoulda known." 

Ian would swear that the dog was putting on an act too - dashing around, sniffing at this and digging at that. Acting completely opposite of the focused, disciplined dog that she'd been before. 

Coop walked right into a trap, breaking the tied vine and sending a branch crashing noisily into a tree. Coop spun around, then around again, gape-mouthed and waving his rifle. Dutch ran around him, barking wildly. 

Ian was so amused by the display that he almost forgot was he was supposed to be doing. He quickly made his way through the brush, using Coop's noise as a cover. He worked around the clearing towards the sugar maples that he'd earmarked. 

Coop was moving again. "Heya look, a house! Maybe theah know wheah I am." 

Ian was almost at the trees. 

Coop walked heavily towards the house, every bit the city dweller. "Yo, anybody theah?" 

Suddenly a voice rang out… on the _other_ side of the clearing from where Ian expected it to be. 

"Stop!" 

Ian almost melted in relief. 

_Jason._

Coop spun around and squinted in the direction of the voice. "Yo?" 

"You're trespassing on private property," Jason snapped. 

"I'm mad lost, my guide ditched me. I could be in Georgia foah all I know." Coop walked towards the voice. "You a huntah, right?" 

"Stop!" Jason ordered, and Coop froze. Even Dutch froze at the sheer authority and command in that voice. 

Ian could see that Coop had almost tripped another trap. 

"C'mon, bro," Coop said, holding up his hands. Even through his act he had to remember that Jason was a skilled killer. "Just point me da way out and I'll be outta heah." 

There was a pause, and Ian wondered if Jason was weighing whether he could afford to let Coop go or just kill him now. 

Coop took a step back and there was a slight rustle from up an American beech tree. Coop froze again. Ian automatically raised his rifle to the upper canopy of the beech tree. Looking at the branches, he could calculate where a man's center of mass would have to be and take Jason out right now. 

Ian's heart was pounding and his trigger finger was throbbing in anticipation. He could almost see Jason's body falling through the branches to lay on the ground near Coop's feet. 

He lowered his rifle. 

"Jase?" he called out. "Jase? It's me!" 

There was a startled movement from the tree. 

"Ian?" Jason called back. " _Ian?_ How in Sam Hill did you…" 

Jason's voice trailed off. When it returned, it had lost the note of happy surprise. It was flat, cool, and… 

Very, very tired. 

"Goldamn, Ian, now I'm going to have to kill you." 

  



	15. A Moment of Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian talks quickly.

**Part 15: A Moment of Truth**

Ian's heart was in his throat. Jason had said he was going to have to kill him. But Ian kept his voice calm and friendly, though loud enough to carry across that clearing. "The beech tree, huh? I was sure you were in the sugar maples." 

There was a pause, as if Jason was trying to read Ian's reaction, then Jason called back, "Needed height. Those maples ain't strong enough." 

"Good choice, and tricky, since you'd have to walk back over traps to get there." Ian hesitated then stood up, exposing himself. If he was going to keep talking, Jason could find him anyway. He moved into the clearing. 

"Whoa, waz the deal heah?" Coop said, keeping his heavy New Yorker accent. "Can one of youse guys tell me the way out of heah?' 

Ian responded, "Yeah, head back up the path, then take the left-hand…" 

"Don't move," Jason snapped. "Gun on the ground." 

"Yo, I don't know what beef youse guys got…" 

"Hush your mouth," Jason growled. "I saw the two of you come up the path then talk then separate." 

Coop gave a shrug and carefully put his rifle down. " _Ruhig_ ," he said to Dutch. The dog immediately stopped running about like a puppy and came to sit alertly at Coop's side. 

Ian slung his rifle over his shoulder and and held up his hands. He walked slowly towards Jason's voice. "Jase, come down and let's talk." 

"Who is he?" 

"Friend of Don's," Ian said, coming to stand next to Coop. "Just helping me out." 

"And?" Jason demanded. 

"Agent Billy Cooper, FBI," Coop said, his New York accent vanishing. Ian noticed that he didn't say he was from Fugitive Recovery. "This is Dutch." 

"Here to take me in?" Jason asked tightly. 

"Here to help a friend of a friend, nothing more." 

Jason didn't reply and Ian could feel him studying the three of them on the ground. 

"You wouldn't believe the places we've been, looking for you," Ian said conversationally but also keeping his hands up. "Charlie had some wild ideas but his third one panned out." 

"Charlie, too?" 

"And any other friend or favor I could call in to get to you before the LEOs did. Now, could you just come down and talk?" 

A long pause where Ian tried not to hold his breath. 

Finally, Jason said, "Stay right away from the shack. All of you." 

"Ok," Ian and Coop chorused. 

They stood still, trying to look non-threatening, as Jason climbed down from the tree. There was a series of sounds that told Ian that Jason was dismantling more traps around the base of his tree, possibly more deadly ones than the noise-makers in the clearing. 

Jason came slowly out of the trees, his eyes darting around. His clothes were rumpled and messy, his face unshaven and dirty. Nothing like the squared-away soldier Ian usually saw. 

"Just us," Ian reassured him. "I wouldn't have busted my ass getting here first only to lead the LEOs here." 

Jason's eyes rested on him, measuring, assessing. He looked edgy, tired, like someone who'd been in a warzone and under fire for days. 

Without looking at Coop, Jason said, "New York, you stay here. If someone, anyone, comes…" 

"We'll let you know," Coop said, then commanded Dutch, " _Gib laut,_ " and Dutch gave a short, loud bark. 

Jason nodded, his eyes still on Ian. Then he deliberately turned, putting his exposed back to them, and walked across the clearing and past the shack. 

Ian hurried to follow, walking a few steps behind Jason. He had a sudden flashback to the second time they'd met, when they'd gotten back together after neither had planned on seeing the other again. Ian had picked Jason up at the airport but Jason hadn't spoken or even looked at him for the entire trip to Ian's apartment. Instead he'd walked behind Ian or looked out the window as they drove. When they'd finally reached the privacy of Ian's apartment, Jason's greeting had been intense and very physical. Somehow Ian doubted that this time, when Jason decided it was time to interact again, that he'd be kissing Ian and wanting to know where the bedroom was. 

The path past the shack took a sharp left turn then headed abruptly uphill. In less than five minutes, they were high above the level of the roof of the shack. Next to the trail was a large fallen tree, and the marks of years of people using the trunk as a bench. Jason sat down on the trunk and stared through the trees at the clearing below. The shack was visible through the foliage. Ian hesitated then carefully sat down next to Jason. 

After a long silence that even Ian struggled not to fill, Jason asked without looking at him, "Why are you here?" 

Many replies came to Ian's tongue, some angry, some questioning, but he finally just said, "Because I couldn't not be." 

Jason's eyes flashed up to meet his. Then, to Ian's horror, the eyes of this tough Army sniper, Silver Star recipient and heavily-decorated soldier and leader, began to fill with tears. 

  



	16. Some Answers Lead to More Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason stuns Ian with his version of events.

**Part 16: Some Answers Lead to More Questions**

Ian watched Jason blink quickly, banishing the tears that had begun to form in his eyes. Jason looked down the hill, blinking more, the muscles in his jaw bunching. 

"Jase?" Ian asked softly. 

Finally, Jason said, in a low voice, "That's almost exactly what I said to Scotty. When he asked me why I was there, I said I couldn't _not_ be there." 

"Scotty? Scott Wright?" Ian didn't add, 'the man you killed?' 

Jason nodded. 

"Did Scotty need your help?" 

Jason looked at Ian with the faintest of smiles. "I am-I was the only one who called him 'Scotty.' Since we were littles. He said it sounded like a type of dog." 

"Okay, did Scott need your help?" 

Jason's small smile vanished. He turned away from Ian again. "Yeah. Fat lot of good I ended up doing him." 

"What happened?" 

"I couldn't stop him. All my training and skill and I couldn't stop one insurance salesman with a gun. I thought he was all talk, God forgive me." 

"Do what?" 

Jason looked down at his hands. "I reached for it, but I was too slow, too far away. I didn't think he'd do it, but I should have known better." 

"Do what?" Ian asked again quietly. 

Jason's hands tightened into fists and his voice was almost a whisper. "Kill himself." 

Ian stared at him. "Scott Wright killed himself?" 

Jason closed his eyes and nodded. 

"Then why did you tell the police that you'd killed him?" 

"Suicide is a sin before God and the Church." 

Ian frowned in confusion. "So is murder." 

"Since I confessed, maybe they won't look too close at it. That way they can have a full Church funeral, bury him in his family's plot. No one needs to know." 

Ian's jaw dropped open. Finally, he managed, "You're going to go to jail for that?" 

Jason squeezed his eyes tightly closed. "If I have to. I owe him that much." 

Ian stared at him. That was a lot to owe an 'insurance salesman' that you knew as a kid. "Isn't lying also a sin?" 

Jason's reply had a ghost of ironic amusement. "Already going to Hell." 

Ian tried another tact. "If I was his family, I'd want to know the truth." 

"The truth?" The pain and sadness were back in Jason's voice. "No one wants the truth here, not especially his family." 

"Do you know his family well?" 

"Not really." 

"Then how do know they don't want the truth?" 

Jason visibly swallowed a few times, before replying, "Families don't want the truth." 

Ian thought back to his encounter with Jason's mother and knew that Jason wasn't just talking about Scott's death. 

Ian shook his head. "And Father Lane? He was a witness? How long can you keep him from telling anyone?" 

Jason's eyes flew open and all sadness was gone, replaced by a hot, sharp rage that made Ian jerk backwards. 

"Oh, he was a _witness_ , alright. He _witnessed_ it all, every day, for years." 


	17. Even More Tangled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian treads carefully.

**Part 17 - Even More Tangled**

Ian swallowed hard at the rage in Jason's eyes at the mention of Father Lane. There was a wildness around those eyes that told Ian not to push anymore on the subject at the moment. Whatever had happened, Jason partially blamed Lane for Scott's suicide, or at least being a 'witness' to it. Ian wondered if Jason felt that Lane had seen the signs of Scott's problems for years and not done anything about it. 

Jason tore his eyes away from Ian's face and once again looked downhill at the distant shack where Lane was held, and where Coop and Dutch kept watch. They sat silently as Jason struggled to regain equilibrium. Ian was shaken himself that Jason was so shaken - Ian had read Jason's file and the Army Lt. Col. had been through some very hairy situations, including multiple times under interrogation in enemy hands. And the file was very clear that Jason had never lost his cool. The only time that Ian knew that Jason became agitated was when he was struggling with his homosexual desires, and that usually manifested as self-anger, not tears. Was it that this situation was so personal? Or had Scott meant that much to him? 

Ian felt a surge of jealousy that he squashed with irritation. He'd known Jason for less than two years, and while their relationship was intense, it wasn't… Wasn't what? Personal? 

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Ian searched his mind for another route to information that might not break Jason's fragile hold on his emotions. 

"Max survived surgery," Ian said. "You might not know that." 

Jason stared at him. "What?" 

Ian winced internally. Maybe Jason didn't want Max to survive. "It's touch and go, Charlie said." 

Jason said carefully, "Max who?" 

Ian frowned, he hadn't gotten a last name. "State highway patrol." 

Jason grabbed his arm, making Ian jump. "What happened?" 

"I, uh…" Ian said. 

The wildness was back in Jason's face. "What happened?" 

Ian swallowed and said slowly, "You don't know?" 

"No! Why would I…" Jason's eyes widened. 

"Yeah," Ian confirmed. "They think you shot him." 

"Why would I have shot him?" Jason demanded, his grip on Ian's arm painfully tight. "He's my friend." 

As gently as he could, Ian said, "So was Scott, and you confessed to killing him." 

Jason stared at him then let go of his arm with a shove. "Lord Almighty. Tell me what you know." 

"When police came to the church after your 911 call, they found Max in a back room. He had been shot and lost a lot of blood, but he was alive. He made it through surgery and now it's just touch and go to see if he survives the day." 

Jason shook his head. "Goldamn, he must have gotten there before us, I should have known that Max would have gotten there before I did. He said he was too far away, but he would have figured out a way to get to Scotty. When I didn't see him at the church, I thought he'd gotten delayed, and then everything happened so fast." 

"You expected to see Max at the church?" 

"Yes, he was the one who called me after Scotty called _him_ and… told him what he was going to do." 

"Kill himself." 

Jason's eyes shifted and he was a beat slow in answering, "Yes." 

Ian looked at Jason for a moment then said, "It's been a while since I got a report, how about I call and check on Max's status?" 

Jason gave a short jerky nod. 

"And, there's another phone call that I promised to make." 

Jason tensed. After all this, did Jason really think Ian was going to turn him in? 

Annoyed, Ian snapped, "Your CO." 

"Colonel Bromberg?" 

"How do you think I found out you were in trouble?" 

A faint smile eased Jason's tense face. "Don't know he knew about you." 

"Hey," Ian said. "Everyone knows about Ian Edgerton." 

Jason gave a half-hearted chuckle. 

"And he knew if he called your team, there would be a bloodbath." 

"What team?" Jason said without change of expression. 

Ian just raised his eyebrows. 

Jason gave a small shrug. "Bromberg is probably right. I'm glad he got up with you." 

"Me, too," Ian said with emphasis. He held Jason's eyes for a long moment, then said, "Okay, how about I make some calls?" 

Jason nodded and Ian reached for his sat phone. As Ian thought about his task, he managed not to sigh, but just barely. He was going to have to tell Jason's CO that he'd found Jason, but that this was going to be no easy extrication. Jason was in deep and determined to dig even deeper. 

Ian wasn't going to tell Bromberg that Jason seemed in turns fragile and raging, his military experience aiding some sort of personal disaster that was snowballing. Ian certainly wasn't going to mention that Jason had said he was going to have to kill Ian to keep Scott's secret. 

All those things that he couldn't mention… Bromberg was definitely going to know something was up. 

Ian chickened out and dialed Charlie instead. 

  



	18. Checking in with the Eppes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone wants to talk to Ian.

**Part 18: Checking in with the Eppes**

"Ian?" Charlie's voice came quickly over the phone, without his usual vagueness. Maybe he'd actually been anxious. 

Smiling a little at the image, Ian said, "Yes. Calling to check to see if you know how Max is doing." Ian had stood up and moved a little away from Jason, in case he had to hear some bad news. 

"Max?" Charlie said. "What about you? Have you found Jason? Is he…" 

"Jason's fine," Ian said, then corrected it to, "Jason's not injured or in custody." 

"What? Then where, and how did-" 

"We found the hunting shack, and he was…nearby." 

"Great! How did you locate it?" 

"Tracking," Ian said. "Once I got close enough, it was straightforward to track an ATV carrying two people." 

"Oh! Of course, though you needed me to get close enough." 

"Yes, Charlie," Ian said wryly. "Thank you for your help. Now, has your friend heard anything about Max's status?" 

"Friend? Oh, Matt, yes. I don't think so, I've been working on additional search algorithms in case you needed secondary search locations." 

Ian sat on his impatience. Jason was looking at him from down the path, his eyes begging for answers, but Charlie had to be humored sometimes. Ian let Charlie babble for a full minute about the new algorithms, before saying, "Well, I found him, so don't need those right now. Can you check with Matt?" 

"Oh, sure. Here's Don." 

"What?" 

"Ian," Don said. "Everything okay?" 

"No," Ian said dryly. "But Jason is still alive, so that's something." 

"You found him?" 

"Yes, at Charlie's third location, a family hunting shack deep in the woods." 

"Good, does he…have an explanation?" 

"Not one that makes any sense yet," Ian said. "But he didn't kill Scott Wright, he just told the police that he did." 

There was a startled pause, then Don said, "Why?" 

"I'm not really sure yet. It has to do with being Catholic and suicide-" 

"Scott killed himself?" 

"Yes, but that's not the whole story." Ian lowered his voice. "I thought once I got to Jason that things would start to make sense, but there's a lot going on here that I don't understand. Jason is… under a lot of stress and I don't have many answers yet." 

"Okay. What do you need from us?" 

Ian smiled though Don couldn't see him. He was finding out who his friends really were. "Well, you already sent your buddy, though it's taken me a lot time to decide if that was a good thing or not." 

Don chuckled. "You and Coop getting along?" 

"Dutch has had to break us up a few times." 

Don laughed - then stopped laughing as if he didn't know if Ian was joking. 

"Coop's got a way with people, that's for sure," Ian said. 

"Yeah," Don admitted. "Especially women. That smile and that voice." 

"Works on you and Will, I think." 

A moment of silence then, in a low voice, Don asked, "What has he been saying?" 

Ian laughed as his suspicions were confirmed. If Coop hadn't said Don _and_ Will his reaction would have been different. Ian kind of liked Coop, and if he was messing around with Don behind Will's back, Will would rip his throat out. The civil veneer over the wolf that was Will Stevens was very thin. 

"None of my business," Ian said with a grin. He firmly restrained his mind from picturing that threesome. 

There was a noise behind him as Jason shifted and Ian's grin vanished. How could he be laughing with friends when Jason was in such trouble? 

"Anything from Charlie's friend yet?" 

"Matt?" Don said. "He's FBI. David's boyfriend." 

"Ok," Ian said. There really were too many boyfriends in that office. No wonder Jason was suspicious of the water. 

Don muffled the phone then came back a moment later. "No change, still unconscious. I guess 'no change' is a good thing in this case. Charlie was trying to tell me how the odds of his survival were improving over time in some sort of curve but I cut him off." 

"No idea yet what happened?" 

"Didn't Jason…?" 

"He didn't know Max had been injured, or even there. Max had called Jason to warn him Scott needed him, but Jason thought that he'd just beat Max to the church." 

"Then who the hell shot him?" 

"I don't know. Attempted suicide?" 

"Doesn't make any sense." 

"None of it does," Ian said heavily, his shoulders slumping. 

Then he straightened up. He was here and Jason was alive. Anything else could get sorted out. By force, if necessary. 

"Let me know if you get any news, of any kind," Ian said to Don. 

"Keep your phone on vibrate," Don said, wryly acknowledging that Ian's situation was still dangerous. 

"Always," Ian said. 

After hanging up, Ian turned and walked back to Jason. 

"Good news?" Jason said. 

"No news is good news," Ian said. "Max is holding steady and every hour that he makes it improves his odds. Charlie was telling Don some math terms, but thankfully he didn't pass it on." 

Jason eyed him. "That made you laugh?" 

Ian flushed. "Um, Coop, Agent Cooper is Don's old partner. I hadn't met him before today and it's been an interesting meeting." 

Jason looked at him for a moment longer. "So, nothing?" 

"Max is alive and every hour makes it more likely he'll stay that way. Maybe he'll regain consciousness and say what happened." 

Jason nodded slowly, then turned away from Ian. "He better make it," he said through clenched teeth. "Can't lose him too." 

Ian swallowed the flash of jealousy at another sign of how much Scott had meant to Jason. Things were already enough of a mess without adding his own conflicts. He reminded himself that he hoped that Max would make it, as a witness, if nothing else. 

To Jason's tense back, Ian could only say, "I better call your CO now." 


	19. SitRep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian reports to Jason's CO.

**Part 19: SitRep-**

"Bromberg" came the impatient voice over the phone. Ian automatically came to attention. Some things were ingrained, no matter how long ago his military service was. 

"Ian Edgerton, sir." 

"Did you find him?" 

"Yes, sir. He's… uninjured and not in custody." 

"What the Hell happened?" 

"Jason isn't really explaining much, I'm afraid. I know that he didn't kill Scott Wright. Scott killed himself and Jason is trying to cover it up." 

"Why?" 

"Religious reasons, I think. I guess his religion says he can't be buried in a normal cemetery as a suicide." 

There was the predictable startled pause then, "He's started a massive manhunt for _that_?" 

"As far as I can tell." 

"And the hostage?" 

"He's safe but Jason isn't really talking about why he took him. Jason also doesn't have any idea who shot the highway patrol officer, says he wasn't there." 

"Right, I heard about that. That's what made the alarms all go off, an Army sniper taking out a local cop." 

"It wasn't Jason. He says so and I believe him. He hasn't lied to me about anything, I don't think. Just not answering particular questions." Ian didn't say that Jason seemed too fragile to answer some questions. He wasn't sure that Bromberg would even believe him. 

"He's not a liar," Bromberg agreed. "Where are you?" 

"Out in the woods, old hunting shack. I'm going to try to talk Jason into turning himself in, but I don't know if I'll have any luck. We're safe, for now, I think." 

Bromberg thought for a moment then said, "You need backup?" 

"Not at the moment, sir. I…met up with a friend from the FBI who…is helping with cover. We've been able to stay under the radar so far. I think your initial assessment still stands. A show of force wouldn't be a good idea." 

"Okay. Good job, soldier." 

Ian wasn't a soldier anymore, but he'd take the praise. "Thank you, sir." 

Bromberg continued, "Things are stirring up here. Rumors are starting to fly. If I can tell people it's under control, hopefully that will keep the heat off." 

"I don't know about under control, sir, but I'm with him now and I'll do what I can." Ian cleared his throat then added, "I didn't realize how…influential Jason's family was in this area. If there's a quiet way to make this problem vanish, they'll do it. Though I doubt they'll be looking out for Jason over the family name, if you know what I mean." 

"Understood. Keep him alive," Bromberg said. "And call me if there's anything you need, officially or unofficially." 

"Yes, sir." __

"Tell him if he needs us, the Army will be there. Or at least me and my hunting rifle." 

Ian smiled. "Yes, sir." 

Bromberg ended the call and Ian gave a sigh of relief. That had gone a lot better than he'd feared. Bromberg hadn't pressed and Ian hadn't had to lie about Jason's state of mind. Ian got the impression that if things went south that Bromberg would be a lot less understanding. 

Well, if things went south, there wouldn't be much of Ian left for Bromberg to question. 

Ian put his phone away, took a deep breath, and went to see if he could break through Jason's silence - without breaking him. 

  



	20. Walking on the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian sneaks up on a breakthrough.

**Part 20 - Walking on the Ice**

"Your CO seems like a good guy," Ian said, cautiously sitting next to Jason on the fallen tree. "If the Army was full of COs like that, I might still be in it." 

Jason nodded, though he wasn't looking at Ian. "He is a good CO. Got treated like a clod in a churn until I was assigned to Bromberg. I'm too young for my rank, they kept telling me." 

Ian thought back on all the missions and actions in Jason's file, at least the non-redacted ones he could read. Jason had earned his rank the hard way. 

Ian said, "He said that if we need him that the Army will be here, or at least him and his hunting rifle." 

Jason smiled faintly. 

"Jase," Ian said. He carefully put his hand on Jason's knee. "We need to find a way out of this." 

Jason looked at Ian's hand but he didn't move away. "There is no way out." 

"There's always a way out." 

After a moment, his eyes still on Ian's hand, Jason said, "You sound like Ash." 

"Ash?" 

"My second." 

"Oh." Ian wasn't going to mention that he now knew a lot more about Jason's career than Jason realized. Jason was referring to Major Ashley Shesh, a soldier that had risen through the ranks with Jason. Someone else to be jealous of? 

"She says there's always a weakest point in the ice. You just have to find it." 

"Alright, then let's… talk about the ice." 

Jason tensed, Ian could feel under his hand as well as hear it in his breathing. 

"Father Lane," Ian said quietly. "You said he was a 'witness'? Are you afraid he'll reveal that Scott took his own life?" 

Jason grimaced but didn't reply. 

Ian hid a sigh and tried something else. "Tell me about Scott. Does he have family?" 

"Wife and two kids." Jason paused and continued, "Oldest kid is almost 8." 

Ian leaned closer, that last part seemed significant, but he had no idea why. "Have you met them?" 

"A couple of times. Emily is nice." 

"His wife?" 

"Yeah." 

"And his kids are nice?" 

Jason shrugged slightly. "Never met the kids much. Mostly when I came into town, Scott and me would just knock back a beer. We'd get two sheets in the wind and I'd end up sleeping it off on her couch but Emily never complained." 

"You come to town often?" 

Jason shrugged again. "When I had to." 

"I met your mother earlier." 

That finally brought Jason's head up and he stared at Ian. "What?" 

"I was asking around and she…intercepted me." 

"What did she say? What did _you_ say?" 

"Just kept to my story about being an old Army buddy and I was in town for hunting and thought I'd look you up." 

"Did she buy it?" 

"Mainly. She said that she wanted to talk to you. That there were some things she and your father wanted to talk to you about, before you talked to anyone else." 

"I'll bet," Jason said grimly. "My sister there?" 

"Just your mother." Ian mentally added, 'and the cop she treated like a servant.' 

"Good. Olive is even worse." 

"Olive?" 

"Olivia, one of my sisters. Normally her and my mum are joined at the hip. They run the family foundation." 

"You have other sisters?" Ian asked, though he knew the answer. He didn't really want to talk about Jason's sisters, but at least Jason was meeting his eyes. 

"Caro, Caroline. She's a tax specialist. For the Foundation, of course." 

Ian nodded. "Met your brother, sort of." 

Jason looked even more startled. "What? How?" 

"At Blue Hill Lodge." 

"Why in Sam Hill did you go there?" 

"Charlie thought you might be there." 

Jason's lips twitched. "I actually thought about it. That professor of yours is too smart." 

"They thought CJ was you," Ian said. "They had him cuffed in a state trooper car." 

That surprised a dark laugh from Jason. "Hope they keep him there for a while." 

Ian said quietly, "I almost broke him out, before I realized it wasn't you." 

Jason held his eyes and Ian thought maybe that Jason could understand what Ian was really saying, about the lengths he would have gone, and still would go, for him. 

Jason moved Ian's hand off his leg and stood up. He stared at nothing for a long moment, then said the last thing that Ian ever expected to hear. 

"Ian, I've been lyin' to you," Jason said softly. "Lyin' all along. You ain't the first man I've ever been with." 


	21. The Truth No One Wants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Warning: Serious triggers_
> 
> Ian is angry, then angry, then _angry_.

**Part 21 - The Truth No One Wants**

_"I've been lyin' to you. Lyin' all along. You ain't the first man I've ever been with."_

Ian sat very still as the words echoed. Emotions rolled through him in waves - shock, anger, humiliation, anger again. Jason had been lying to him since the moment they met, letting Ian believe that he was a virgin, that he needed to be coaxed into doing things, that Ian goddamned meant something to him. 

All the things Ian had done for Jason, concerns he'd had for him, all based on lies. Rage seethed through Ian, making him shake. Jason still stood there, not looking at him, waiting on his response. Ian could see the side of Jason's face. He might as well have been made of stone. 

Like his heart. 

"Scott was your lover," Ian spat out. "That's what this was all about. Why am I even here?" 

"Scotty? No. Well, kinda." Jason's voice was calm, almost detached. "We messed around once when… just before I joined the Army. Didn't even take our clothes off. Just kissed and, well, rubbed against each other." 

Ian remembered Jason telling him about that, early in their relationship. That the experience had so terrified Jason - it had felt so good, so right, and such a huge sin - that he'd left to join the Army immediately afterwards. Ian had asked, more than half-serious, what he would run off to join after he and Ian had done a whole lot more than rubbed against each other. 

Turns out Ian hadn't needed to worry after all. 

"Max," Ian snarled. "Your cop friend." 

That brought a slight twitch of Jason's lips, like the start of a smile. "Max, no, never." 

"Then who?" Ian snapped. "Someone in your command? Or is it just a series of men, and you string us all along, playing the 'virgin' card?" 

Even the shadow of the smile was gone, and Jason was once again stone. Ian waited for Jason's answer, replaying in his mind every moment together that had been a lie, everything that he had ever said that Jason must have laughed about behind his back. 

He'd been right to worry that this incident was the real Jason Hill surfacing and Ian had only been fooling himself before. Jason had been playing him, for some dark reason, and Ian had fell for it. Life had taught him from an early age that people weren't to be trusted, and damn if he had forgotten about that and let Jason in. The things he had done for Jason, the lengths he had been ready to go for him. His throat tightened and he had a burning need for his gun. 

Softly, so softly that Ian almost didn't catch it, Jason said, "It started when I turned eight." 

Ian blinked. "What?" 

His mind was blank for a long moment. 

Then all the pieces to the puzzle snapped into place with a sickening click. 

"Oh, no," Ian breathed. 

His emotions - and his stomach - skittered sideways… and fell off a cliff. 

"Father Lane," Ian whispered. 

Jason's face didn't shift, but he nodded. 

"'Started'?" Ian asked, hoping that didn't mean… 

"Every week, until I was almost ten." 

"Every…week?" 

"Sometimes more often. I was one of his 'regulars,' boys he singled out for special classes." Jason paused and a muscle in his jaw twitched. "Our parents called it an honor, said we was closer to God." 

"Shit…" 

Words suddenly started spilling out of Jason. "He would say what happened between him and me was between us and God, and God would be mad if I told anyone. He called me a 'Vessel of God' and that I was put on Earth to help the Church. The first time he…penetrated me I bled so much and he called it the 'Blood of Christ' and said it was proof I was meant for him." 

"Bastard…" Ian hissed. Ian was shaking from anger again… but for a very different reason. He struggled to reorient himself after the bitter thoughts he'd had about Jason. The truth was far more terrible, but it did mean that Jason was the man Ian thought he was, after all. The whiplash made him nauseous. 

And murderous. 

"Did you tell anyone?" 

Jason was still not looking at Ian. "I tried once. I told my parents. My mother called me a sick little brat and that I best not speak about a Man of God and a pillar of the community like that." 

"Your father?" 

"He gave me the worst hidin' he ever gave me." Jason's lips twitched. "I was so hurt my parents claimed I had chicken pox and kept me from school and church for two weeks. They didn't know that they'd gave me a gift, a little break from him. But then I had to go back." 

"It stopped when you were ten?" 

"I don't know how long it would have gone, but one Sunday, there was a new priest saying that Father Lane had taken ill and needed to go away for a long time." 

"Somebody found out." 

"And they covered it up. We were so relieved, we didn't care. Never in our darkest fears did we ever think he'd be walking back in here." 

Ian wanted to reach out to Jason, but wasn't sure his touch would be welcome. "Scott was also one of the 'regulars.'" 

"Yes. He was a little younger than me." 

"And Max?" 

"Yes. Even younger than Scotty. Father Lane always waited until we were eight." 

"As if that makes it any better." 

Jason made a noise that might have been agreement. 

Ian said slowly, "Scott's oldest boy was turning eight. He was about to start going to catechism classes." 

"Scotty couldn't let it happen again, not to his boy." 

"No," 

"Scotty, he struggled with sinning all his life, but he'd managed to build a life for himself. He got married, had two kids. He had strict rules to help himself from sinning, and we helped him as much as we could, Max and me. His wife, Emily, too, though he never told her about _him_." 

"Then Lane came back into town," Ian finished. "And Scott's carefully built world crumbled. When he was told to send his son in for classes, he snapped." 

"He told Max he was going to kill him, for all of us. When I got to church, Scotty was holding him at gunpoint. I tried to talk to Scotty, but he didn't have ears for me. He was realizing he couldn't do it. He wasn't a killer." 

"But he could kill himself." 

Jason's eyes closed in pain. "He couldn't watch his boy go through it. It ruined his life." 

Ian wanted to say that being sexually abused as a child didn't make Scott gay, that those were two separate things, but he knew it wasn't the time. 

"So you grabbed Lane and ran." 

"I wanted to leave him there," Jason said with a shudder. "But I couldn't let Scotty's death mean nothing. He needed to be taken somewhere, away from Scotty's boy. I wanted to kill him myself, but Lord help me, I'm a coward." 

Ian clenched his fists and tamped down the need to argue that Jason was no coward. "Now what are you going to do with him? You can't keep him in that shack forever." 

"Told you there was no way out." 

"Of course, there is," Ian said. "Tell people what he did to you." 

Jason opened his eyes and looked at Ian at last. "No." 

"But why-" 

"No." 

Ian gritted his teeth and tried, "Maybe Max-" 

"No." 

"Why not?" Ian snapped at last. "You're a grown man. You're a soldier, a goddamned American hero. Why not?" 

Jason paused a long time, his young-old eyes on Ian and full of despair. Finally, he whispered, "Because maybe I am a vessel of God." 

Ian shot to his feet, snarling, "Fuck that!" 

Jason blinked and took a step back. 

"You were a child, not a sex toy for lonely priests. He is _sick_. He should be stripped of his robes and _shot_." 

"Maybe I liked it," Jason stammered. "Maybe it's why I like it with you." 

Revulsion shuddered through Ian. "Bullshit. You were a _child_. You were raped over and over and no one who should have protected you did anything about it. There is no 'liking' it. There is only survival and you _survived._ There's nothing to be ashamed of." 

Jason's eyes filled with tears. "I should have protected the younger boys. I should have made sure it stopped with me." 

"How?" Ian demanded. "How should you have stopped it? You told your parents and they beat you. Goddamn it, Jase, you…were…a…child!" 

Tears spilled over and Jason turned his face away. 

Ian stood, shaking with helpless rage, as Jason cried silently, still turned away from him. Ian's eyes went to the clearing below them, to the hunting shack which held a monster. 

Scott might not have been able to do it, Scott might not have been a killer. 

But Ian was. 

After a moment, Jason slowly sat down on the tree trunk. 

Ian sat next to him, not touching. 

Neither looked at each other. 

There was a long tense silence. 

Finally, Ian couldn't hold the words back anymore. "Being sexually abused by a man as a child does not make you gay." 

Jason flinched. 

"Max isn't gay, you said so yourself. That he could never be your lover." 

Jason didn't respond. 

Ian added quietly, "I was never abused as a child." Then he had to correct himself, "Sexually abused." He carefully put his hand on Jason's leg. "But I'm attracted to men." He cleared his throat and said, "One man in particular." 

A tremor went through Jason. "I lied to you, Ian." 

"Not really. What happened to you as a child wasn't sex. It was rape." 

Another tremor. 

Ian continued, "It was calculated, repeated rape by someone who should have been a protector. It hurt you, damaged you, twisted you, but you came through the other side a strong man." 

"I'm not strong." 

"Like Hell," Ian snapped. "It broke Scott, I don't know what it did to Max, but you are a 30-year old Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. You have survived more and saved more people than ten other soldiers put together. You did your best to put it behind you." 

A thought crossed Ian's mind and it was his turn to shudder. "Until you met me." 

Jason looked up, finally meeting Ian's eyes. "It's not like that. You and me, it's not…I don't… You're somethin' special." 

Ian tried to smile in response, but his simmering rage wouldn't let him. He thought about how Lane was down in the hunting shack, locked in. He didn't know if Jason hated him more than he feared him, but it was definitely a combination of both. There was even a little love and respect thrown in, to complicate things. Ian understood that far too well. 

"This stops now," Ian said. "He's not going to touch one more kid." 

"Maybe he's reformed, maybe he's changed," Jason said, his eyes sliding away from Ian's. 

Ian waited a moment until he had his voice under control. Still it came out harsh when he said, "This was not a onetime thing, this was over _years_. And with multiple children. There is no 'reform' that can repair that. No, Scott was right. Even if Lane had publicly acknowledged and repented of his crimes, there is no way that he should ever be trusted with an 8-year-old boy again." 

Jason looked back again, and there was a strange light in his eyes. "You mean I don't have to forgive him?" 

" _Hell_ no," Ian snarled. " _Fuck_ forgiveness." 

Jason gave a startled laugh. 

"You do not forgive…but you move on." 

"You make it sound easy." 

"It's not easy," Ian said, and his voice went rough with emotion. "You use the hate, you use the fear and it makes you powerful." 

Jason's eyebrows shot up. 

"Yeah," Ian acknowledged tightly. "Some other time." 

"…okay." 

Ian turned to turned to look down at the hunting shack and their current problem. He felt Jason looking at him for a long moment before he also turned to look down at the shack. 

That sat in silence. But it wasn't their usual companionable silence, the silence that Ian had only shared with one other living soul. 

This silence had weight. 

Finally, Ian had to break it. "We'll find a way out, Jase. You and me." 

It took a moment for Jason to reply, and when he did there was the barest hint of amusement in his voice. "You and me and New York and his dog and Charlie and Don and Colonel Bromberg and 'any other friend or favor you could call in?''" 

"Them too," Ian said with a faint smile. 

"Okay," Jason said. He took a deep breath in, then gave a long breath out. "Let's work at cracking this ice." 


	22. Dialogue with the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian tries to treat this witness interview like any other.
> 
> _Warning: Serious triggers_

**Part 22 - Dialogue with the Devil**

Ian left Jason at his seat on the fallen log above the clearing - a sniper's perch, now that Ian thought about it. He walked carefully down the path, taking deep breaths in and out. In his hand he gripped a padlock key. 

Coop and his dog, Dutch, watched him come towards them. Ian had no idea what his expression looked like, he was trying to keep it neutral, but there was no trace of laughter on Coop's face. 

Ian stopped at Coop, then found himself unable to say anything, unable to share the horrible truths he'd learned. 

"What now?" Coop finally asked. 

"I need to talk to…" Ian waved his hand towards the shack. 

"The hostage?" 

"He's a lot more than that," Ian said in a low voice. "He's the reason for everything." 

Coop raised his eyebrows. 

"Your job," Ian said. "Is to stop me from killing him." 

Coop stared at him, then gave a short nod. Ian was grateful for his restraint. 

"You want to talk to him outside or inside?" Coop asked. 

Ian thought about being inside a cramped shack with that monster and snapped, "Outside. Make sure he doesn't get away, either." 

Coop turned to Dutch and pointed at the shack. " _Zur Wacha_." The dog immediately went into guard mode, staring at the shack. 

Ian took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and tried to put himself into interrogation mode. He had faced many people who had done far more heinous things than this man. He just had to keep his cool. 

He knocked on the door. 

"Hello?" a voice called from inside. "I'm in here! I pray that you are the police!" 

Ian unlocked the padlock, removed it from the latch, and handed it to Coop. He wanted to have his hands free. "Step outside, please." 

The door pushed open and out stepped a man, blinking in the sunlight. He was dressed in nice slacks and a white shirt with a clerical collar. He had white-blond hair and bright blue eyes. He wasn't as old as Ian expected. In fact, he was probably just about Ian's age. 

No wonder Jason hadn't minded the age difference between him and Ian. 

Ian gritted his teeth and swallowed hard against vomiting. 

When he was sure his stomach would stay down, Ian spoke. "Agent Ian Edgerton, FBI. I just have a few questions for you." 

"Oh good," Lane said with a smile. He had a lot of white teeth and smile crinkles around his eyes. "Have you captured that poor man?" 

Ian countered with his own question. "Do you know a highway patrol officer, first name of Max?" 

"Of course, I know all my flock. I've known Max since he was a boy." 

Ian grimaced, his gorge threatening to rise again, but he quickly recovered. "He was shot at your church. Were you aware of that?" 

Lane's smile dimmed. "Why are you asking me that?" 

"It is an ongoing investigation." 

"Max was shot, you say? That's a terrible loss, such a promising young man." 

"He survived." 

There was a flash of something on Lane's face before he smiled and said, "God is merciful! I'm glad to hear that!" 

"Are you?" 

"Of course!" Lane said with just the right amount of surprise. 

"But what about Scott? He was shot, too, and according to the 911 call, you were there. Scott didn't survive." 

"No," Lane said sadly. "More lives destroyed by sin." 

Ian decided to test him on a known fact. "What happened there? With Scott?" 

"Jason was out of control. I don't know what they were fighting about or why Jason killed him, but may God have mercy on his soul, both of their souls." 

Ian clamped down tightly on his reaction. "Why was Scott there, at the church?" 

"I counsel all of my flock. Scott was troubled." 

"About what?" 

Lane shook his head regretfully. "That's under the seal of confessional." 

This was getting nowhere. Ian leaned forward, moving into Lane's personal space, an old tactic. Then asked, staccato-fashion, "Wasn't Scott there at the church because you raped him as a boy and Scott was afraid that you were about to do the same to his son?" 

"What?" Lane gasped. "That's horrible thing to say!" 

But there was the slightest pause, a pause which Ian knew to look for, while Lane made the mental calculations, 'how would a non-guilty person react to this accusation'? 

"Shit," Coop said behind Ian. 

"What happened to Max?" Ian pressed. "He come to protect Scott's little boy from you, too?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lane said. "I haven't seen Max since services on Sunday." 

"Who shot him? You? You have a gun tucked away in the confessional?" 

"That's ridiculous. I'm a man of God." 

Ian clenched his hands at his sides. "Did Max see something he shouldn't have? You molesting another boy?" 

Lane gave a gentle sigh. "My son, you are very confused. I would happy to counsel you so that you can begin to allow God in your heart." 

Ian's teeth clenched as tight as his hands. Through his teeth, he said, "What happened with Max? Was there someone else there? Why was he found almost dead in your back room?" 

"I can tell that you need God in your life, as you are full of anger and error. Only in the Blood of Christ can we all be cleansed." 

Ian lost it. 

"The same 'blood of Christ' that ran down Jason's legs the first time you raped him when he was eight?" Ian snarled. "That you said was proof you were meant for him? _That_ blood of Christ? How red do _you_ bleed?" 

Lane opened his mouth, but before anything came out, Coop was stepping in front of Ian. 

"Alright now, time for you to go back inside," Coop said. 

Lane gaped at him, but Coop firmly pushed Lane backwards, back towards the open door of the shack. Lane stumbled and Coop pushed him through the door and slammed it behind him. With a quick motion, he snapped the padlock back on the door and locked it. 

Ian stood there, sucking air through his teeth, staring at the door, his whole body rigid with rage. 

He could never remember being so angry. 

Even when… 

Well, even when. 

" _Aus_ ," Coop said softly to Dutch and she relaxed her guard stance. 

Coop and Dutch waited silently for Ian to regain his composure. It was a long wait. 

Finally, Ian's jaw and hands unclenched. He felt his fingernails come out of his palms. 

"Thanks," he mumbled. 

"You didn't warn me that I might want to kill him myself," Coop said mildly. "What you said explains a lot." 

Ian gave a slight nod. It explained far too much. 

Coop said, "Kinda cliché, priests molesting boys." Before Ian could rip his head off, he continued, "But clichés come from truths." 

Ian blinked at this surprisingly deep comment. Coop chewed on a fingernail and looked at the shack. 

Eventually, Coop asked, "Max? Jason doesn't know what happened to Max?" 

"Didn't even know he'd been shot," Ian said. 

"Well, Hell," Coop said. 

They stared at the door of the shack for another moment. 

"What's your next play?" Coop asked at last. 

Ian sighed. "Do you want to make a try at him? Ask about what happened to Max?" 

Coop looked down at Dutch, across the clearing, then back at the shack. "No." 

"Fair enough," Ian said. "But I don't know how much time we have left. They may not have Math Boy but local LEOs are going to find us sooner or later. I'd be happy to go on the run with Jason, but…" He shook his head and gestured towards the shack. "That monster can't be let loose again." 

"Jason will testify against him?" 

"No," Ian said grimly. "And he made it clear that he expects no one else will either." 

"Fuck." 

"Yeah." Ian glanced up through the trees to where Jason was undoubtedly watching everything. "I wonder, though. He'd never told anyone, except fellow victims before, until me." He gave a harsh laugh. "No, he told his parents when it started. His father beat him bloody then sent him back to church." 

"Bastards. And after meeting her, I can imagine what his mother said. I've seen her type." 

Ian put aside that anger for a moment. "Still, by telling me, maybe it's broken open something. Maybe if he gets into an interrogation room, something might come out." 

"Seems like a heap of 'maybes.'" 

"You got a better idea?" 

"Nope." 

"So now we need to get Jason safely into custody." 

"What about him?" Coop jerked a thumb towards the shack. 

"Might need him as leverage." 

"Okay, I'll go find someone to talk to about-" 

"I'll do it." 

"Why? I figured you'd want to stay here with Jason." 

"I do," Ian said with a deep sigh. Now that he'd tracked Jason down, he didn't want to let him out of his sight. "But do you think you could find this place again without me?" 

Coop had to shake his head. "So I'll keep an eye on Jason and the perv while you go talk to the local cops." 

"Not the Boone cops, they will just run to Mother." 

Coop countered, "But highway patrol thinks Jason shot one of theirs." 

"I'll look for a sheriff. I don't want to have to call in the feds." 

"We are the feds." 

Ian gave a dry snort. "True." 

He looked up the hill to Jason's perch. Somehow he was going to have to get Jason to agree to turn himself in, to believe in a promise that the justice which had never come for Lane might come for him now. Ian couldn't admit to Jason that he was hoping he'd talk to cops about the molestation, when Jason swore that he never would. 

The worst part was, if Jason did break down and admit what happened, admit it all from Scott's suicide to the years of abuse at Lane's hands, then…Ian doubted that Jason would ever forgive Ian. If he left Jason now and things went as well as they possibly could, Jason would probably never want to see him again. 

Ian would have saved Jason only to lose him. 

Ian steeled himself and turned to walk up the hill. 


	23. Difficult conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian needs to talk Jason into turning himself in

**Part 23 - Difficult conversations**

Jason was sitting on the fallen log above the clearing when Ian returned from talking with Father Lane. He didn't turn his head as Ian approached. 

Ian hesitated then sat down next to Jason. 

"What did he say?" Jason said, his eyes still on the clearing below. 

"Lies and more lies." 

Jason looked at Ian then, and the flash of gratitude and relief on his face was unmistakable. He looked away again and his hands clenched in his lap. 

Ian swallowed a lump. To have Jason even think that Ian would believe Lane over him… Ian didn't think that Jason lacked faith in Ian, but Father Lane had so dominated Jason's thinking for years that Jason couldn't be sure if anyone would believe him. Ian remembered Lane's bright blue eyes and gentle smile and shuddered. 

"He's holding to the line that you killed Scott," Ian said at last. "Did you discuss it with him?" 

"I talked to him near nothing," Jason said in a low voice. "But he heard me call 911." 

"That story would suit him more than Scott killing himself," Ian mused. "Makes him more in danger. And that maybe the police will shoot you first instead of asking questions." 

Jason made an affirmative noise. 

"He didn't say what happened with Max," Ian continued. "My guess would be that he knows. And that he was surprised and not happy that Max was still alive." 

Jason shook his head in confusion. "Max is a well-trained officer. He was always fast, crazy fast. No way that he could shoot Max without Max getting a shot off in return. Unless he ambushed him." 

"Why would he do that?" 

"Hell if I know. How could he know Max was coming? If he shot Max, why did he let Scotty pull a gun on him? Could it have been Scotty that shot Max? No way. It had to be him.”" 

Ian noticed but didn't comment that Jason never used Father Lane's name. "Is Lane a good shot?" 

"I'm bettin' he hunts like everybody." 

Ian nodded. 

After a moment of silence, Ian said, "I'm afraid I let him get to me, and I let slip that I knew what he'd done to you." 

Jason stared at him, his face pale. 

"I'm sorry," Ian continued. "It was just that he was spouting this religious crap that sounded exactly like what he told you to justify molesting you. I lost it. I'm usually better at interrogation." 

Jason turned away from him. "What did you say?" 

"Um, I said that you had-" 

"No, tell me the entire speaking, word for word." 

Ian eyed him. "Are you sure?" 

Jason gave a short nod. 

"Okay…" Ian looked down at the clearing. He remembered opening the door to the shack and his first sight of Father Lane. He was like a Hollywood image of a Roman-Catholic father, down to the white hair and oh-so-understanding smile. Little wonder this area saw him as someone you couldn't speak against. The children he molested had no chance. 

He swallowed again at the horror he'd felt when he'd realized that Lane was his age, and that was probably why Jason hadn't minded the age difference between him and Ian. That awareness was not something he could deal with right now, so he shoved it away for later. 

Staring at the clearing, Ian repeated as much of the short conversation that he could remember, using exact phrases when he could. Lane had seriously rattled him, so his recollection was not as good as it normally was. 

"Then Coop stepped in between us and shut Lane back in the shack," Ian finished. 

After a moment, Jason asked, "What did Coop say?" 

Ian decided to relay this conversation a little less faithfully. "I apologized for losing it and thanked him for stopping me from going after Lane more. Coop said he understood and would have gone after Lane himself, if he'd known. I asked Coop if he wanted to try to get more out of Lane about Max, but Coop didn't think he'd have any more success." 

"And then?" 

"We talked about what we were going to do next and how we're going to get out of this." 

That brought Jason's head up to look at him. "I can't let him walk free." 

"Jase," Ian said quietly. "That man will never go free. One way or another, he will pay for what he did to you." 

Jason looked into Ian's face, perhaps reading the conviction there. He said softly, "And did to others." 

Ever the leader, Ian thought to himself. He remembered Jason's classified file and the insane lengths he had gone to protect fellow soldiers. Like taking a murder rap so his friend could get buried in a normal grave. 

"He will never do it again," Ian said, "If I have to cut his dick off myself." 

Jason gave a dry laugh. "I'll be loaning you my knife." 

"It's a deal. Now, how much time will it take for them to have Scott's funeral?" 

"I don't know," Jason admitted. "Especially if they hold on to him to open an investigation." 

"How could they not open one?" 

A faint, grim smile showed on Jason's face. "I guess I was hopin' that being a Hill would be good for once, that my parents would get any investigation scuttled." 

Ian thought about Jason's mother. That was a woman who would do anything to protect her position in society. "It's possible." 

Jason continued, "So somehow we have to keep that story running until at least the burial." 

"Lane isn't going to tell people Scott killed himself. He likes the story that makes him an innocent bystander. He seems like the type that will even add to it, paint himself as a victim, subject to terrible things, as he bravely tried to protect one of his 'flock.'" 

Jason nodded in agreement. "He would." 

Ian kept to himself his hope that Jason would break down in interrogation and tell the truth about Lane and Scott himself. It seemed a ridiculous hope, given that Jason had stood up to torture without cracking. It was the only plan Ian had, though. Too bad Jason would see even the hope on Ian's part as a terrible betrayal, and he would never look at Ian the same way again. 

Pushing himself to continue, Ian said, "You can't stay out here for much longer. Someone is going to remember the family hunting shack and tell the local cops." 

"I wouldn't put it past my parents telling them," Jason said darkly. "If it gets CJ out of trouble and me quietly behind bars." 

Ian grimaced. He didn't know if Jason was overstating it, but he had the feeling he wasn't. It turns out there were many good reasons for Jason to rarely come back to his hometown. "So we need to control the situation the best we can, before some manhunt-happy cops get anyone else shot." 

Jason sighed. "You're saying I'll be needing to turn myself in." 

"You need to turn yourself in." 

Jason gave him a sideways look. "You'll arrange it?" 

"Yes." 

"Not Coop?" 

"Do you think New York could find his way back here, even with the GPS coordinates?" 

Jason smiled faintly. "No. Though that dog of his looks smart." 

"She is." 

"You'll want to go to Sheriff Hamilton. He's never liked how my family runs Boone cops like they own them. He'll get things square." 

"Good." 

"And _him_?" Jason asked. "What will we do with him? He can't go back to holdin' Sunday services." 

"And classes for kids. No, I'll come up with something. If I have to kidnap him myself later, I will." 

"And no one will find you," Jason said. 

"Not unless it's you that's looking." Ian reached over and squeezed Jason's hand. To his relief, Jason put his other hand on top of Ian's and squeezed back. They held each other's eyes for a long moment, then Ian took a deep breath and stood up. 

"Daylight's wasting. I'll give Coop my sat phone so I can call when there's a plan. I don't want you to be distracted by me ringing in your ear." 

"Be safe, Ian." 

"See you soon, Jase." 

Jason nodded then Ian did one of the hardest things he'd ever done. He turned away and left Jason sitting there. Ian swallowed hard against the knowledge that there was a good chance that these were the last kind words they'd ever exchange. 

As he walked down the hill, he worked hard on composing himself. By the time he reached Coop, all that was left was determination. 

Two plus hours after he strode into the Watauga County Sheriff's office, Ian walked back out, still a free man. There had been some tense negotiations, and a call to confirm Ian's credentials, but they hadn't arrested Ian for aiding a fugitive. 

Ian stood outside the door and stretched tight back muscles. He'd spent longer than he wanted in there - the sun was starting to set. He was going to have to make his way back to Jason in the dark, and without being trailed, as the sheriff was almost guaranteed to do. That might take a while, as it had taken a couple of hours to get here when he wasn't trying to hide his trail. He should call Coop to give Jason an update. 

The tricky part now was make sure everyone followed the plan and no one did anything impulsive. Everyone knew that Jason was armed and dangerous, and emotions were running high about his supposedly innocent hostage and how he was believed to have shot both Scott and Max. It could go south very quickly if someone got spooked. 

Something caught Ian's eye - four people casually walking down the street. They were talking and laughing and looking in shop windows, but there was something off, something that triggered Ian's instincts. There was a little too much alertness, too much body awareness, too much moving as a unit … 

_Shit._

Jason's team had arrived. 

  



	24. The Him in Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason introduces himself to Jason's team.

**Part 24: The Him in Team**

Ian crossed the street and made a beeline for the four people strolling up the street. They stopped walking and watched him come. 

There had been no pictures in the file about Jason's team, only names and skill descriptions. There had been six names but there were only four people here. Ian assessed them as quickly as he could. 

First was a tall man of south Asian descent. He was wearing a button-down shirt and glasses but his stance told Ian that his fists would be as deadly as his intellect. That had to be Sergeant Agni Sen, a brilliant mechanic, a sort of 'MacGyver' type. 

Second was a Middle Eastern woman, petite with flashy gold jewelry. That would be Corporal Gamila Nejem, linguist extraordinaire. What languages she didn't know, she could figure out. 

Third was a bulky redhead white man, wearing a Texas Longhorns t-shirt. That had to be Specialist Chris Kelly, a strongman with brains. 

Last was a curvy white woman, medium height and wearing a tight pink t-shirt that said, 'Get High at Denali.' That would be Major Ashley Shesh, Jason's second-in-command, who he called 'Ash.' There was something about her that… 

"Welcome to Boone," Ian said with a smile as he reached the waiting group. "You folks in town for some hunting?" 

The others glanced at Ash, who smiled without a lot of warmth. 

"Ian Edgerton," Ash said. "What a coincidence to meet you in this little town in the middle of nowhere." 

Ian hid a frisson of reaction. They knew who he was then, what had Jason told them about him? "The good folks who live here might take exception to being called middle of nowhere. And considering the places we've seen, this is the height of civilization." 

Ash eyed him. "Where's Jason? Is he okay?" 

"Not here, but yes." Ian looked around and spotted an open restaurant down the street, a quiet-looking diner. "How about something to eat?" 

Ash grimaced, then looked around at their public location then nodded. 

Ian turned and began walking towards the restaurant. Ash fell in beside him, the remaining three following. 

Ian watched Ash out of the corner of his eye and it wasn't her curves that caught his attention. There was something about the way she moved that was very familiar. She was a sniper. She was also from Alaska, given her shirt and her Inuit last name. 'Shesh' meant brown bear. 

His eyes widened and he stopped abruptly. "You're Kodiak." The mystery person that had held number one in the sniper ranks for two years. 

Stopping to look at him, she raised her eyebrows. "Don't know what you're talking about." 

He grinned and started walking again. "Nice to meet you." 

Considering all of Jason's teasing back and forth about sniper rankings, it was amusing that Jason was outranked by his own second-in-command. 

Ian's grin vanished as he remembered the tenuousness of Jason's position and that it had just gotten a lot more complicated. 

There were no more words exchanged as they walked down the street. When they went inside, Ian was the one who spoke to the waitress, requesting the table they wanted. Fortunately, the restaurant was sparsely populated. Ian and the four members of Jason's team crowded into a horseshoe booth at the back. Ian was wedged in between Ash and the linguist, Nejem, the two men flanking them. The close quarters weren't comfortable but it meant that they could keep their conversation more quiet. 

Ian spoke first. "I thought that the Army was going to stay out of this." 

The others made angry noises, but it was Ash who responded, "It's so much better for the FBI to be involved?" 

"I'm not here officially." 

Ash snapped, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Jason called you and not us." 

Ian frowned at her. "Jason didn't call me. Bromberg did." 

"What?" everyone exclaimed. 

"Colonel Bromberg called you," Ash said flatly. "And we had to find out through back channels?" 

"So you're not here officially either?" Ian said. He remembered Bromberg saying that if Jason's team came, it could be 'a bloodbath' - and Jason had agreed with the statement. 

Ian said lightly, "Oh, as you know my name, you're Major Shesh." He pointed around the table. "Let me see…Sergeant Sen, Specialist Kelly, Corporal Nejem." Ian had hated being recognized on sight by strangers, see how they liked it. 

Ash eyed him. "Jason has told you a lot about us." 

"He's never mentioned you. I told him I knew about you and he said, 'what team?'" 

"Then how do you…" 

"I know things sometimes." 

Ash shot him a glare but refused to be baited. "Where's Jason? What's happening?" 

"It's complicated," Ian said. "I'm not sure how much I can tell you." 

Ash's eyes narrowed. "If you don't-" 

"Because it's Jason's secrets, not mine." 

Ash stared at him. 

Ian gave her a faint smile. "You were about to say, 'Jason doesn't have secrets from us,' then you realized that's not true at all." 

Fortunately for everyone's blood pressure, the waitress showed up at that moment. They all flipped open their menus and ordered quickly. 

As soon as the waitress moved away, Ian said, "Why would Jason call me instead of you guys?" 

Ash gave him a sharp look that said, 'Are you an idiot?' 

Ian didn't know how to respond to that and Ash took over. "Tell me what happened here, as much as you can." 

Ian nodded and tried to sort through what he could say and what was Jason's to tell them, if he ever did. He decided that, while he'd protect Jason's secrets, Father Lane was another matter. 

He cleared his throat and began, "Scott Wright and Jason grew up in Boone together. When Scott was a child, he was sexually abused by a priest named Father Lane." 

Corporal Nejem, the linguist, started to say something but Ash shushed her. 

Ian continued, "Yesterday, Max, another childhood friend who is also a North Carolina Highway Patrol officer, called Jason to tell him that Scott was in trouble. Scott's young son was supposed to start classes with Lane, the same one-on-one time where Lane molested Scott. Scott had told Max that he was going to kill Lane. 

"Jason took emergency leave and raced down here. However, Max got to Lane's church first, probably even before Scott. Someone at the church shot Max. He survived but he's in intensive care with a very poor prognosis." 

Jason's team visibly held back their questions as Ian talked then as the waitress arrived with water glasses. They all waited for her to move away again, then Ian continued. 

"When Jason reached the church, Scott was holding Lane at gunpoint. Jason tried to talk Scott down. When Scott realized that he couldn't kill Lane, he killed himself instead. He couldn't watch his son go through what he did." Ian took a sip of his water. They weren't going to like the next part. "As you know, Jason has some very strongly held religious beliefs." 

There was a loud snort from the beefy Specialist Kelly. Ash shot Kelly a glare and gestured for Ian to go ahead. 

Ian said, "Scott was also of the same faith, and their church says that people who commit suicide cannot be buried in the same place as others." 

"… he didn't." Ash said. 

Ian nodded as she got there before the others at the table. 

"Didn't what?" Nejem asked. 

Ian said, "Jason called 911 and told them that he'd killed Scott, so that he'd be able to be buried in his family plot." 

"That's idiotic!" Kelly snapped. 

"It surprises you?" Ash said sharply. "After what he's done for all of us?" 

Kelly flushed and shook his head. 

Ian said, "Then Jason grabbed Lane and took off." 

"To stop Lane from saying that Scott killed himself," Nejem said. 

"No…" Ash said slowly. "Or maybe not just for that reason. Jason wants justice for Scott, for what Lane did to Scott as a kid, and it looks like Lane has gotten away with it for a long time." 

Ian gave her a sideways smile. He could see why Jason had her as his second. She was a fast, multi-step thinker. Even Charlie would be impressed. 

Ian said, "So Bromberg called me and asked me to see if I could figure out what happened, and if possible, help Jason out, without noise." 

"We can be quiet!" Nejem objected. "You have no idea what we can do if-" 

"If Jason doesn't want to be rescued?" Ian interrupted. "This isn't a military action against an enemy, this is Jason making a choice." 

They all protested, their voices overlapping as they argued with him. Ian let them vent their frustration at him while he sipped his water. He agreed with most of what they were saying about not letting Jason throw himself away over this stupidity. As they talked, Ian remembered what he'd said to Jason - what Jason himself had said to Scott - when asked why he was there, he'd answered, 'Because I couldn't not be.' Ian suspected that Jason's team would say something very similar. 

When they finally stopped talking, Ian picked up his story. "When I got to Boone, I met up with a friend of a friend, another FBI agent. Along with other, um, unofficial FBI resources, we managed to track down Jason before the local LEOs or the highway patrol did. He's at a hunting shack deep in the woods. 

"He was shocked to find out that someone had shot Max. He doesn't know who could have done it. I…talked with Lane and he claims not to know either." 

"And now what?" Ash said. "You decided to come back to town to get a bite to eat while Jason hides in the woods with pedophile?" 

Ian let that go, he would be mad as well. "You must not have seen me walking out of the Sheriff's office. We've got a plan for Jason to turn himself in." 

"But he didn't do anything!" Nejem said. 

"He did kidnap Lane. Right now he's the subject of a manhunt from Boone cops that think he killed one of their citizens and kidnapped a respected other one. And a manhunt from highway patrol who think he shot and might have killed one of their own. The safest place for Jason to be is behind bars." 

"They'd never catch him," Kelly scoffed. 

"He's got a hostage, remember," Ian said. "Slowing him down." 

"And he can't run forever," Ash said. "The Army would have to turn him in themselves." 

"We wouldn't!" Nejem protested. 

"We would," Ash said quietly. 

Nejem glared at her but eventually she and the other two looked down and nodded. 

Ian cleared his throat. "I presume you want to be involved in this now." 

Ash smiled grimly. "You would be right." 

Ian nodded in resignation. 

Their food arrived then. As the waitress set down their plates, Ian asked her, "I'd like to get two orders of ribs to go." Then he sighed and said, "Make that three." 

He didn't know if he was going to be able to go back to Jason tonight, but he wanted to be prepared. He was reluctant to give anything to Lane, but he didn't want Lane to have any extra complaints to add to Jason's treatment of him. Coop would be annoyed if he brought food for Jason but not him, and Dutch might like the bones. 

But as Ian automatically ate his mediocre hamburger, it was Jason that he was thinking of - Jason as Ian had never seen him. When they'd finally tracked Jason down today, Jason had looked exhausted and haunted. Ian had no idea when Jason had eaten last. 

Besides, cold ribs made Ian think of a camping trip that he and Jason had taken not too long ago, when Ian had made ribs at a campground in Congaree National Park in South Carolina, then they'd eaten them cold in the backwoods. It was only maybe 200 miles from here that they'd spent a blissful couple of days, hiking and sleeping and making love among some of the most beautiful trees Ian had ever seen. If things went poorly in the next 24 hours, at least Ian would have that memory. 

"So…" Ash said at last. "What is this plan of yours?" 

  



	25. Making Arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian tells Jason that his team has arrived.

**Part 25 - Making Arrangements**

Ian stood in a motel parking lot, leaning against his truck and gazed at his silent cellphone. He had gotten a two-bed motel room, just down the way from those of Jason's team, though he didn't know if he or Coop would be sleeping there. It was an excuse to go into the motel, come back out to the parking lot and spot the sheriff's deputy who had been trailing him. That deputy had no doubt already reported back to Sheriff Hamilton that Ian had lied to him when he said he was here with just one friend. Meeting up with Jason's team as he walked out of the sheriff office no doubt looked very suspicious. The timing could have hardly have been worse. 

Still, it had been good to meet the people who Jason spent so much time with, the people who watched his back. He approved of their fierce defense of Jason and determination to be part of the solution to this mess. Yet, at the moment, Ian couldn't predict how their arrival had shifted the odds of getting Jason out of this. 

Maybe Jason could be mad at them instead of Ian, if Jason is forced to admit what Lane did to him … 

Sighing, Ian grabbed his go bag, his rifle, and the takeout ribs from the truck and went towards his motel room. Avoiding the call he needed to make, Ian called Charlie. 

"Ian!" Charlie said. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Ian said, not wanting to explain the complications. "I wanted to check on Max's status. And if highway patrol has any leads on Jason." 

"No change on Max, still critical, though from reports he should be upgraded to 'serious.' There isn't really any sort of standardization which you would think would be crucial to communication-" 

"The Highway Patrol?" Ian snapped, not in the mood for Charlie's ramblings. "Did they figure out they had CJ?" 

"Oh, oh, of course. There was some accusations and charges of false arrest being thrown around. But as far as we can tell, they haven't located the hunting shack yet." 

Ian opened the door to his motel room. "Where is their focus?" 

"I think they… Wait a second." Charlie moved away from the phone. Ian shut the motel room door behind him and waited impatiently. 

Charlie came back with, "Yes, they're calling the hunt off for the night." 

"Good! Where are they starting in the morning?" 

"Northwest of Boone, but not as far north as where the shack is. They are executing a standard search pattern, so no indication that they've narrowed their grid down. Wasteful patterns with no-" 

"Any indication that they know I talked to the Sheriff Department?" 

"Uh, you did? We weren't tracking them. Didn't know they had jurisdiction." 

"They do if you feel the local police are compromised." 

"Um." 

"Can you set up alarms or something to tell you if there are changes with the highway patrol or Max?" 

"Well, within certain limits. I can only set up keyword alerts, but I can't cover every possibility, not unless I set up a learning-" 

"A few keywords are good enough," Ian said. "You can go to bed now." 

"Oh, well, it's still early and I have papers to grade. Been putting them off. These search grids that the highway patrol is using could really be improved. I'll have to talk with Don about it, for when he uses them." 

Ian had to smile. "Glad to give you an interesting excuse. Matt might like to go home to David, though." 

"Yes, sure. I wonder if Colby has… Oh, here's a sandwich. I wonder if it started out hot or was always cold." 

Ian chuckled and ended the call. His smile faded quickly. He set his things down on the nearest bed and sat down next to them. 

He stared at his phone again. Almost two years ago, three weeks after he had met Jason for the first time, Ian had spent a great deal of time thinking about calling Jason. Ian had gone into the wilderness by himself, tracking a former military hitman named Hughes who had injured or killed all the others who had gone after him. At the time, Ian had been certain that he would never see or contact Jason again, due to Jason's severe conflicts about finally giving into his homosexual desires. 

Ian had killed Hughes, but only after he had shot Ian several times. Ian was injured enough that he could have used an evac, but had been perversely reluctant to use up his sat phone battery to call for one. He'd wanted the possibility available to call Jason, even if he would never use it. Twenty-six hours after being shot, Ian had stumbled out of the wilderness and then, against all his own arguments, had finally contacted Jason. They'd been seeing each other, in their own way, ever since. 

He'd had no idea it was going to come to an abrupt end. 

Shaking his head, he dialed the number for his sat phone and waited as it connected. 

"About time," Coop answered. 

"Hi to you, too," Ian said. "Talked with the sheriff, but there's a wrinkle." 

"Of course." 

"Jason's team has arrived." 

"Jason's what?" 

Ian stood up and began to pace his hotel room. "Jason leads a hot-spot insertion team, a real elite group. They showed up today as I was leaving the sheriff's." 

There was a moment of silence as Coop digested this information. "I'm guessing you weren't happy to see them." 

"Bromberg, Jason's CO, called me instead of them for a reason." 

"What reason?" 

"The word he used if he called them instead was 'bloodbath.'" 

"Shit." 

"Yeah. I don't think they're that crazy, but they aren't going to let Jason go down for Scott's death, even if he wants to." 

"So now what?" 

"Charlie said that they've called off the hunt for the night." 

"Good." 

"I need to talk to Jason." 

"Okay, I presume you aren't coming back tonight?" 

"Haven't decided," Ian said with a sigh. 

"I didn't exactly plan to spend the night in the woods." 

"I got us a motel room in town." 

"Oh, great. So that's why you wanted to go, so you can have a bed." 

"Would rather be sleeping in the woods." 

"I bet you would," Coop said wryly. "Okay, gotta conserve power on this big-ass phone. Give me five and call back." 

Coop hung up and Ian looked at his watch. 

Then he was back to staring at his cellphone. This time he remembered the times he dreaded calling Jason because he wasn't sure if Jason would pick up - or it if would be someone else disavowing all knowledge of Jason's existence. 

Five minutes ticked by and Ian called his sat phone again. 

"Ian!" Jason's voice came over the phone. For a second, Ian just had to close his eyes and savor the welcome in it. 

"Hey," Ian said. "I'm in town, talked to Sheriff Hamilton. He was as eager to go around your family as you said he would be." 

"Good, we going on a plan?" 

"There's been a…complication." 

"What?" 

"Your team is here." 

Jason was quiet for a long moment. Finally, he asked, "How do you know?" 

"I talked with them." 

"Did they approach you or…?" 

"I recognized them, well, recognized that they weren't local or tourists. They moved like a unit that was used to being in dangerous spots together. Knew who they had to be." 

"All…three of them?" 

"Six," Ian said. "I put names to faces when I saw them. Your unit is six, seven counting you." 

"How are you _knowing_ these things?" 

"I'll tell you someday. I only met four, number five was securing a motel room and number six was back at some base somewhere with his wife who'd just had a baby." 

"Oh, right…" 

"They said that they didn't even tell him what was going on, because they didn't want him taking off on his wife and new baby." 

"Good call." 

"It was good to meet them, especially Ash. I can see why she came up the ranks with you. She's smart." 

"Smart as all get out!" 

"And a very good shot, I'm betting. Kodiak-level?" 

Jason chuckled. "She hates people knowing." 

"They knew who I was," Ian said with a little reproach. "Recognized me on sight." 

"Well," Jason said, and he sounded both embarrassed and proud. "You are kinda famous." 

"Most people know the name, not what I look like," Ian teased. "What, did you show them pictures?" 

"No," Jason said, now sounding fully embarrassed. "We just know about each other's business. Part of being a team." 

"Am I your business?" Ian asked, still in a teasing tone. 

"Yes, I mean, No, you're your own business, but I, well, yes, in a way…" 

Ian laughed and rescued Jason from his stammering. "Ash was pissed that you called me instead of them, but not surprised." 

Jason grumbled. "Did you tell her I didn't call nobody?" 

"I did. Oh, did Coop told you the manhunt is on hold for the night?" 

"No surprise." 

"No. Also, Charlie's been tracking Max and he's hanging in there." 

"Was always as stubborn as a mule and tougher than a goat." 

Ian smiled. "I hope to meet him." 

"Yeah." 

Ian's smile vanished. He said quietly, "Jase, your team… They aren't going to let you go down for Scott's death." 

"Goldamn it…" 

"Do you want to talk with them?" 

"No. I want them to go on home." 

"You know they're not gonna do that." 

"Dammit, what was Bromberg thinking-" 

"Bromberg didn't call them. They found out through 'back channels.'" 

"And they raced here like their ass was on fire to save me." 

"Can you expect otherwise?" Ian asked. "You inspire…strong loyalty in people." 

"That what I inspire in you?" 

Ian shook his head at the sudden seriousness in Jason's voice. "Damn, Jase, what do you want me to say? You know how I feel about you." 

"Yeah," Jason said softly. "Sorry, I just…" 

"I know." Ian closed his eyes and, with difficulty, said, "Tell me what you want to do and I'll do it." 

"I want to ditch this mess and you and me go on the run to Paraguay, Thailand, anywhere on God's green earth." 

Ian clenched the phone tighter. "Just say the word, Jase. We're gone." 

"Yeah…" Jason sighed. "I guess I best be talking to Ash." 

  



	26. Team Dynamics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason talks to his team - and his team talks to Ian.

**Part 26 - Team Dynamics**

Ian ended the call with Jason and walked down to the rooms used by Jason's team. He would have liked to talk longer, but they needed to save the battery on the sat phone. It was the only way to communicate with Jason right now. 

Ian knocked on the door to a room and stood so he could be seen through the peephole. The door opened and a large white man looked at Ian. This must be Specialist Oz Creek, the team's logistics person. He had been setting up base while the team scouted the town and ran into Ian. Creek had secured them two motel rooms with an inside door between them. 

Creek stepped back and let Ian into the room. The other four were sitting on the beds, talking intensely. Ian glanced into the next room to see some computers and other electronics already set up. He wondered what sort of equipment they had. He never pictured Jason as needing technology to do his job. Still, it didn't hurt. Technology had gotten him to Jason far before the local LEOs did. Or at least technology and one-make that two-very smart Feds. 

Ash looked up and said, "You have trouble getting a room or just needed a quick nap?" 

Ian grimaced, but it probably wasn't a dig at his age. He was getting too sensitive on that topic. 

He said, "I was talking to Jason." 

Five people gaped at him. 

"You mean you're in contact with him?" Ash snapped. "Why didn't you let us know, instead letting us spin wheels on the ice, trying to game out scenarios?" 

"I needed to find out if he wanted to talk with you," Ian said. 

An angry chorus rose. Ash shushed them all with a chopping hand. "He has access to a phone?" 

"I left him my sat phone." 

"I presume you're saying this because he is willing to talk with us?" 

Ian nodded. He waited until Ash got out her cellphone then listed off his sat phone number. 

She dialed it quickly then as soon as it connected, said, "Jason, what the Hell is going on and why the Hell didn't you call us?" 

Whatever Jason said snapped Ash's spine straight. "Yes, sir! No, sir. I just… yes, sir." 

Ash looked at the people watching around her and pushed the motel room door open and stepped outside. 

She tried to close the door after herself, but Ian grabbed it. She glared at him. 

"I just wanted to let you know," Ian said mildly. "That there's a sheriff's deputy staked out in the parking lot, so you might be overheard." 

Her glare faded and she gave a short nod. Ian let the door close. He pulled the motel window curtain aside and looked at Ash walking back and forth, talking animatedly into the phone. She was alternately pleading and arguing. Ian would have loved to hear both ends of that conversation. 

"So… Agent Edgerton," came a voice behind him. 

He turned to see four pairs of eyes looking at him with far too much curiosity. 

It was Nejem, the linguist, who had spoken. She appeared to be the spokesperson now that Ash was out of the room. Jason seemed to give the women under his command encouragement to take leadership roles and the men to listen to them. 

Ian approved. Even if he wished they'd all sit quietly until Ash returned. "Yes?" 

"How long have you…known Jason?" 

Ian had to smile at her careful phrasing. It doesn't sound like they were positive that he and Jason were lovers, though they thought so. "About two years. We met at a sniper certification. Your team hasn't been together a lot longer than that, have you?" 

Nejem eyed him. "Hard to say." 

Creek, the logistician, asked, "Did you really go up against Hughes all by yourself?" 

"Yes and got myself almost killed for it." 

"Instead you killed him," Nejem interjected. "The guy nobody could take out." 

"Got lucky," Ian said shrugging. The truth was he shouldn't have survived that deep wilderness encounter with an ex-Army sniper turned hitman. But he had survived, and that had decided him that life was too short to not call a certain living Army sniper. 

Nejem said, "I remember Hill was furious when he found out. We all thought it was because he thought the Army should have sent us in after him, but it turns out it was because you guys were…" Nejem trailed off and looked around uncomfortably. 

Ian looked at them thoughtfully. Was Jason's team, or at least members on it, homophobic, exacerbating Jason's self-hatred? 

_Screw secrets. Secrets get you hiding out in the hills, focus of a multi-jurisdiction manhunt._

"Lovers?" Ian responded to Nejem's unspoken question with deliberate lightness. "Yes, but I think Jason was pissed at me because it was dumb. I seem to remember him saying that there was a tree stump in a Louisiana swamp with a higher IQ." 

Nejem and the others laughed. 

"That sounds like him," Nejem agreed. 

Their interest in Ian seems to have only sharpened with Ian's admission that he and Jason were lovers. There didn't seem to be much disgust or anger there. Not like Jason's mother when Ian had hinted that he might be more than just Jason's friend. 

"How did you take out Hughes?" Creek asked. 

Creek got a few dirty looks from the others who seemed to want to quiz Ian more on his relationship with their CO. Ian, however, seized on the question and began talking about his trek through the wilderness and what he did after Hughes got the drop on him. 

He was talking about how he secured Hughes body and preserved the scene as well as he could, when Ash returned. Ian was a little relieved - he didn't know how to explain he didn't call for an evac without sounding like he was bragging. He didn't want to go into reasoning with blood-loss and injury that he needed to be able to call but not call Jason. That had been hard enough to explain to his own boss. 

As Ash came through the door, she looked a little shell-shocked. 

Ian wondered if Jason had told her he'd have to kill her now, like when Jason first saw Ian. 

"We're to not get involved," Ash said. "Only provide support to the sheriff if he asks us." 

"Fuck that!" Kelly snapped and the others agreed. 

"Lt. Col. Hill made it very clear that this a personal matter, and if we interfered it was not only insubordination, but that he would consider it damaging enough to your relationship with him that he would ask for your reassignment." 

"Shit," Kelly said and everyone else stared at Ash in horror. 

Ian smiled darkly. Maybe that was worse than Jason saying that he'd have to kill them. 

"So we sit here and do nothing?" Nejem said. 

"Pretty much," Ash said tiredly. "Unless the situation changes. One thing he does want is to make sure that his friend Max is fully protected. We don't know if he's in further danger from whoever shot him, especially if it looks like he's going to regain consciousness." 

Ian nodded in approval. With just Ian and Coop here, they hadn't been able to do that, but the team's arrival had to be good for something. 

They were not mollified. 

"That's it?" Nejem said. 

Ian cleared his throat. "I don't think Jason would mind if you electronically monitor the activities of the local cops and the highway patrol. I had some friends in California doing that, but I just told them they could knock off for the night." 

"We can do that," Ash said. 

Creek jumped to his feet and headed towards the other room. Over his shoulder, he said, "I wish Williams was here, but we can make do." Ian knew that Sergeant Tony Williams was the team's tech/communication guru - and was also the one back home with his new baby. 

"Help him, Sen," Ash said to the quiet mechanic sitting next to Kelly. 

Sen stood and slowly followed Creek. 

"Kelly," Ash said to the still fuming big redhead. "I want you to get to the hospital to protect Max. Don't tangle with anyone else there to protect him. Be unnoticed unless something happens, okay?" 

Kelly nodded grudgingly and got up. 

"Should I go with him?" Nejem asked. 

"No," Ash said. "As soon as Sen and Creek get hooked into the information streams, I want you on that with Creek. I doubt we're going to run across anything but English but you never know." 

"Besides," Nejem said with a grim smile, "I also speak bureaucratese." 

Ash continued, "Kelly, wait to see if you can take Sen with you. If they aren't ready in ten minutes, go without him and I'll send him later." 

Kelly nodded and he and Nejem went to the other room where Creek and Sen were already leaning over the equipment. Ian was impressed by the speed and efficiency of team, though he shouldn't have expected anything less. 

"And what will you do?" Ian asked Ash. 

She grimaced. "Prepare. React. Worry." 

"Yeah." 

She looked at him for a moment. "You don't know what you mean to him," she said at last. "Maybe he doesn't even know. But we know. I know. What you have already done for him…" 

Ian waited, hoping she would elaborate but she shook her head. 

Reluctantly, she said, "He wants you to come back tonight." 

Ian couldn't help the smile on his face. "I hadn't decided if it made sense." 

"Who knows what will happen after tonight, so…" 

Ian nodded quickly. "If you could just make sure the deputy doesn't follow me?" 

"Yes." 

"Let me give you the GPS for the shack. Though you shouldn't need it." 

"Make sure he arrives at the rendezvous spot tomorrow at oh seven thirty." 

"Yes, sir." 

She eyed him. "Let me know when you reach him, that the situation hasn't changed." 

Ian grinned at her and wrote down on an offered piece of paper the GPS coordinates. Then he turned to go back to his room and get his stuff. As he walked down the hall, he sent a text to his sat phone. 

_Its Ian. Heading your way now._

  



	27. Back to His Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian makes his way back to Jason's hideout - with dinner and a confession.

**Part 27 - Back to His Side**

It was a long hard trek back to Jason. A trip which would have been straightforward in the daytime was difficult in the darkness of deep woods. That was only after Ian made sure that Jason's team had diverted the deputy from following him. The deputy hadn't had an ATV with him anyway, but Ian didn't want him to get any closer to Jason. 

Until tomorrow. 

Ian left his ATV parked next to Coop's and Jason's and then hiked the rest of the way. At least a half-moon gave him occasional light. He could smell the ribs he carried and wished that he'd thought to get four orders. 

Dutch met him on the trail, with a happy yip. 

"Hey, Federal Agent," Ian said. "You smell me coming?" 

Dutch walked with him into the clearing, her tail wagging eagerly. 

"About time," Coop grumbled as Ian came close. He was sitting, leaning against the shack. "Tell me you brought something to eat." 

Ian smiled and set the bag in front of him. "Ribs." 

"Oh, good," Coop said. He looked at the containers in the bag. "Do I have to share with…" He jerked his thumb to the shack behind him. 

Ian grimaced but said, "We don't want him complaining about our treatment of him." 

Coop opened a container and gave a rib, meat and all, to Dutch. She wagged her tail furiously and sat down to gnaw on it. 

"Jason still uphill?" Ian asked. 

"Mm-hmm," Coop said around a mouthful of rib. 

Ian looked up the hill to where Jason must be watching them. Distracted, he said, "I don't think you should go back tonight. Don't want you getting lost in the woods." 

"Yeah, I figured," Coop said. "I'll sleep inside the shack." 

"With _him_?" 

Coop shrugged. "Slept in rooms with worse. Dutch keeps an ear out." 

Ian spotted the sat phone next to Coop. Jason must have given it back to him. Ian picked it up and found a number in its call history that had to be Ash's. He sent her a quick text. 

_Arrived at site. Status unchanged._

"I think I'll keep the phone." 

Coop nodded and picked up another rib. 

Ian said, "We need to meet the sheriff at the rendezvous point at seven thirty, so probably leave here at six." 

"Got it." Dutch took her wet, chewed-on rib and set it on Coop's thigh to get a better angle at it. Coop didn't even seem to notice. 

Ian got one of the remaining containers of ribs out of the bag. "I'll be up the hill, if you need me, need us." 

"Uh-huh." 

Ian nodded and took his bag, rifle and the ribs and walked past the shack. He didn't even want to think of the man inside, not tonight. 

He turned and walked the steep path up the hill to Jason's 'sniper nest'. Around a corner was Jason, standing there with a smile on his face. The half-moon had come out from behind a cloud and lit the small area where he was standing. Ian set his bags down then he walked straight to Jason, took Jason's face between his hands, and kissed him. 

Ian felt Jason shiver then he was kissing Ian back. 

It was hardly more than the pressing of lips together, the sharing of breath, but it was impossibly sweet. 

Ian pulled back first, before Jason could begin to feel pressured. 

Ian said lightly, "I brought ribs." 

As he reached down for the food container, he felt more than saw Jason turn to look down at the clearing, at the shack. At the monster inside. 

Ian swallowed hard and held up the ribs. "Remember ribs in the woods?" 

Jason turned back to Ian and the smile returned to his face. "Where did you dig them up? They ain't going to be as lip-smackin' as yours." 

"Daniel's Diner." 

"Oh," Jason chuckled. "Not by a long shot. Why did you go to that hole?" 

"Needed a spot to talk with your team when I met them on the street outside the Sheriff's office. Someplace we could get the measure of each other." 

"And?" Jason said, taking the container. He sat down on the fallen tree-turned-bench. 

"Impressive." Ian sat next to him. 

"Yes," Jason said with a grin. 

"They weren't too thrilled when you told them they had to sit on the sidelines." 

"Yeah. Think they will?" 

"Unless they see an opportunity to pull your fat out of the fire." 

"Hope not." Jason said around a mouthful of rib. "They don't know what's-" His head jerked around and he looked at Ian. "They aren't knowing about _him_ and…me, right?" 

"I didn't tell them," Ian confirmed. "I told them that Lane molested Scott, though. I don't see any reason to keep that bastard's secrets and it puts everything into context." 

Jason nodded slowly and went back to eating. 

Quietly, Ian added, "They asked me if we were lovers and I said yes." 

Jason stopped chewing but didn't look at Ian. 

"They seemed to approve." 

Jason did look up at that. He made a surprised sound. 

"Well," Ian said. "I am kinda famous." 

Jason gave a soft laugh and went back to eating. 

A knot between his shoulder blades that Ian didn't realize he had… eased. "I should have brought more ribs. Those look good." 

Jason made a mock growling noise and hunched over his food. Ian laughed and held up his hands. He just sat there in the near darkness, listening to the sounds of the woods at night. As Jason finished each rib, he took the bone and put it carefully back in the container. Ian knew that he'd leave the bones in the woods after they left but didn't want any animal visitors tonight. 

When Jason finished, wiping off his fingers with a leaf, Ian got out his lightweight space blanket and laid it down on the ground behind the fallen log. 

"I'll sit first watch," Jason said. 

"Do you think we need to?" Ian asked. "We're in the middle of the woods. I wasn't followed. The only people who know where we are will never tell." 

Jason was silent for a moment, then he said, "Okay, I'm tired anyway." 

"Yeah, you look like hell." 

"Peckerhead," Jason grumbled. 

Ian smiled and got the blanket arranged. He set his watch alarm for 6AM then bunched up some clothing from his bag for pillows. He put his rifle within easy reach of the blanket and lay down. He turned onto his left side. Jason lay down behind him, snuggled up against his body, and pulled the rest of the blanket over top of both of them. It was how they'd slept on their carefree days in Congaree National Park, not so long ago. 

Jason sighed and Ian could feel the tension leave Jason's body. With Jason's muscular, familiar body pressed against his, Ian's own body began to wake up and demand other activities. Ian ignored it. To even propose something, with that monster in the shack below, would be unfair. Jason had barely been able to manage a kiss. 

Jason wrapped his arm around Ian's waist. Ian patted Jason's hand in welcome. He could feel Jason's breath against the back of his neck. Ian was so grateful that Jason had asked him to come back tonight. 

Tomorrow Jason could be in jail, and after that, court-martial, then just gone out of Ian's life. The future stretched out uncertain and bleak. 

Wise old Onacona used to tell him, 'Don't let yesterday or tomorrow use up too much of today.' 

Tonight was enough. 

  



	28. A Simple Handoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason tries to turn himself in.

  
**Title:** Sins of the Past and Present  
**Characters:** Ian/OC (Jason / [pictures](http://irena-adler.livejournal.com/225102.html))  
**Rating:** FRMA, R   
**Summary:** [Sins of the Past and Present ](http://irena-adler.livejournal.com/149706.html#sinsofpastandpresent) \- Ian tries to rescue Jason from a terrible situation, whether Jason wants to be rescued or not.  
Part 28 - A Simple Handoff  
Jason tries to turn himself in.  
**Word Count:** 2,683  
**Placement:** Lt. Col. Jason C. Hill is introduced in the story, [How Edgerton Became Number Four](http://irena-adler.livejournal.com/98878.html), where Ian and Jason became lovers. Jason is an Army sniper who is very much in the closet and deeply conflicted about acting on his long repressed homosexual desires.  
This story comes about a year and a half after they met and they are now in an unacknowledged but exclusive relationship.  
**Disclaimer:** Boone, North Carolina, is a real place, and I use many real locations and descriptions. However, the story, the people, and some locations including St. Michael's Chapel are entirely made up.  
  
  
  


**Chapter 28 - A Simple Handoff**

Ian woke up before his alarm went off. It was still dark. He was cold so that meant Jason had already gotten up. Ian checked his watch and it was about 5AM. 

He sat up and saw that Jason where Ian expected him to be - sitting on the log and staring down at the shack below, at the shack who held the man that had sexually molested Jason and his friends for years. 

At Ian's movement, Jason shifted to look at him, though Ian couldn't see his expression. Ian got up and went to sit next to Jason. To his surprise, Jason leaned against him. Ian put his arm around Jason and they silently watched the sky begin to lighten. 

A little before 6AM, Ian rolled up his blanket and the clothing they'd used as pillows while Jason tossed his leftover rib bones far off into the woods. Ian packed the blanket in his bag and picked up his rifle. They made their way down the hill, Ian in the lead. He could hear Jason's breathing starting to increase as they neared the shack. 

Ian held up his hand for Jason to wait to one side. Jason nodded quickly and Ian opened up the door. 

Dutch lifted her head to look at him as he opened the door. She had apparently been sleeping in front of the door, in case Lane got any ideas about sneaking off into the woods. Coop was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. Lane was still asleep. 

"Hey you," Ian shouted to Lane. "Get up." 

Lane stirred and slowly opened his eyes. Ian turned away from the door before Lane could speak. 

Dutch came out of the door, stretching and shaking herself. Coop followed, stretching as well and scratching his chin. 

"I don't suppose you have any coffee," Coop asked, his voice even huskier than usual. 

"Nope," Ian said, his eyes on the door. He really didn't want to have to go in after Lane. 

Dutch did go back in the shack, but only to retrieve a bone that she brought back out to chew on. 

When Lane didn't appear, Ian called, "You have one minute to come out, unless you want to stay in the shack while we leave." 

After about thirty seconds, Lane emerged, blinking. He looked rumpled and stiff. "What is going on? Where are we going?" 

Ian ignored him and asked Coop, "Where's your garbage?" 

Coop got out of the shack the bag of empty rib containers. Ian took the rib bones out of the containers and threw them out beyond the tree line. 

"Leave that here," Coop said to Dutch, who was still carrying around a bone. 

Dutch just looked at him. 

" _Lass es_ ," Coop said. "Leave it." 

Dutch dropped it and - Ian would swear - glared at Coop. 

"I'll get you more later," Coop said with an exasperated sigh. 

Dutch wagged her tail and came to stand next to Coop. 

Ian's amusement at Dutch faded. He asked Coop, "You have the padlock?" 

Coop produced it and they locked up the shack. Ian handed the key to Jason who pocketed it without looking at it. 

"You leave any traps set?" Ian asked Jason. 

Jason gave him the glare of a seasoned woodsman. "'Course not." 

Ian nodded and said to Lane, "Keep up." 

"Not until I know where we're going!" Lane protested. 

Ian gave him a grim smile. "There are places I'd like to send you, but for the moment, we're going back to Boone." 

"Why should I believe you?" 

Ian faced him squarely. "You have two choices. One, go with us. Two, get lost in the woods and wander around until you die. I know which one I'd prefer. What about you?" 

Lane grimaced and looked down. 

Nodding, Ian picked up his bag, made sure Coop had the garbage bag, and waved Jason to walk ahead of him. Ian could make his way to the ATVs with only a small amount of effort, but Jason knew the path well from years of coming here. 

Jason walked ahead and Ian fell into step with him. Ian checked over his shoulder that Coop, Dutch, and Lane were following. 

They hadn't been walking for long when Ian's sat phone buzzed. Frowning, he looked at it. 

It was a text from Ash. _Heads up. HP n Boone cops coming to RV._ 'RV' was military shorthand for 'rendezvous'. 

Ian showed the text to Jason who also frowned. 

Ian texted back, _How did they find out?_

Ash responded, _Anon tip._

"That's not good," Ian said in a low voice so the people following behind them couldn't hear. "Obviously your team didn't leak it so that means someone in the Sheriff's office called them. But why?" 

Jason shook his head. "I don't know. I thought I could right trust Sheriff Hamilton." 

"There were others there, in his office. What should I tell Ash to do?" 

They walked along for a moment. Ian resisted offering any unasked opinions. Jason knew all the players here a lot better than Ian did. 

As they were walking, Ian's sat phone buzzed, but it was a text from a different number - Charlie. 

Charlie wrote, _Highway Patrol is forming up to meet Jason at the handoff. Boone officers are going to meet there as well._

Showing Jason, Ian smiled faintly - Charlie would not be happy knowing he got scooped by Ash. Ian responded with, _How did they find out?_

Charlie replied, _Anonymous tip to the HP tipline. I don't know how Boone officers found out._

_Can you trace anon tip?_

A moment, then Charlie asked, _Possibly. Want Matt to try?_

_Yes. Don't get caught._

_No problem._

Ian shook his head with wry amusement. He really hoped that none of his friends, or friends of friends, got in trouble for this. 

He sent to Charlie, _Any change on Max?_

Charlie responded, _No change._

_Thanks. Let me know if you find out anything._

_Of course._

Ian showed Jason the text exchange. 

Jason asked, "You think your friend can do what my team can't?" 

"Is your team trying to trace the anonymous tip?" 

"No doubting." 

"I know you have a great team," Ian said carefully. "But so do I, and they're not working out of a hotel room." 

Jason gave a shrug of acknowledgement. 

Ian heard Coop walk up behind them. 

Coop asked, "Want to tell me what you two are whispering about?" 

Ian looked back. Dutch was with Lane, a good 30 meters back. Dutch was walking very closely to Lane, almost herding him, and Lane looked tired and miserable. Ian chuckled darkly. 

Ian kept his voice low anyway. "Got warning from both Ash - that's Jason's second - and Charlie that Highway Patrol and Boone Police Department were tipped off about the meetup. They are both going to be there." 

"Shit." 

Jason nodded. "Not sure why. More people more chance of things going off-kilter. We need a clean handoff, no vendettas." 

Ian said reluctantly, "I'm guessing that someone _wants_ something to go wrong." 

"Whoever shot Max?" Coop suggested. 

"Unless _he_ shot him," Jason said, not looking back at the man walking behind them. 

Ian shook his head. "We know he didn't call in the anonymous tip." 

Ian's sat phone buzzed. It was from Ash. _Orders?_

He showed it to Jason who blew out a breath. "Tell her… Tell her to be near the meet but hang back. We don't want anyone getting jumpy." 

"She's not going to like that," Ian said, but he texted the orders anyway. 

There was a long moment then Ash sent, _Tell Jason that when I see him next I'm going to punch him in the mouth. We'll follow orders._

Ian read the text out loud to Coop and Jason and they both chuckled dryly. 

"I think I'd like to meet her," Coop said. 

Jason laughed fully at that. "Wait until you see her shoot. You'll be all over in love." 

Ian swallowed a burst of jealousy and forced himself to say, "Not hard on the eyes either." 

"Oh?" Jason said, looking at him sideways. 

"I think I'm in love already," Coop said cheerfully. "Does she like dogs?" 

"Sure, but I get the feelin' your dog ain't the sharing type," Jason replied, still looking at Ian. 

"True," Coop admitted. Then he winked at Ian. "Though she has occasionally been willing to loan me out for a little while." 

Ian remembered Coop's friends-with-benefits arrangement with Will and Don. He didn't like to think too much about it. He tried not to sexualize friends but there seemed to be a lot of sex happening in relation to the LA FBI field office. 

Jason said to Coop, "I'll let Ash rip your guts out herself then. She's particular." 

Ian took the opportunity to say, "Don't think she likes me. Or maybe she isn't the sharing type either." 

Jason didn't pretend to misunderstand. "You're asking about Ash and me?" Jason smiled faintly. "Been hearin' that malarkey since we met. She's a brother-in-arms, that's all." 

"Good to hear," Ian said quietly. 

Jason flashed Ian a grin and Ian shrugged, acknowledging his jealousy. 

"Okay, let's pick up the pace," Jason said. "And get there before everyone else does." 

A little after 7AM, Ian and Jason were laying on their bellies on the crest of a hill overlooking the parking lot where they were to meet the sheriff. Sheriff Hamilton and two deputies that Ian recognized were below, waiting. 

Ian, Jason and Coop had left their ATVs behind the hill. Lane had ridden on the ATV behind Coop. Ian hadn't enjoyed having Dutch belted to him - and she hadn't either - but Ian didn't think he'd be able to concentrate on driving with that monster at his back. And there was no way on Earth he was going to let Lane get anywhere near Jason again. 

Ian looked behind where he and Jason lay. Lane was sitting, leaning against a tree. Coop and Dutch were keeping a close eye on him, in case he decided to bolt. Ian was going to have to find a way to thank Don for sending that pair to help him. 

"Highway Patrol is here," Jason said. 

Ian turned back to squint down the hill since Jason was using Ian's sniper scope. 

"Know them?" Ian asked. 

Jason studied the men that got out of the three North Carolina Highway Patrol cars. "Possible, but I'm not knowing most of Max's coworkers." 

Two more cars pulled into the parking lot - Boone Police. Four more men got out of those cars, long guns in hand. "Them, I know," Jason grumbled. 

"Friends of the family?" Ian asked dryly. 

"Yes." 

Ian eyed Jason, wondering if there was a more specific reason to dislike these men, but decided that Jason would tell him if he wanted him to know. 

They watched as Sheriff Hamilton and his two deputies angrily demanded to know what the others were doing here. The others angrily asked why they weren't invited. Ian and Jason couldn't hear what was said but the body language was clear. 

Ian texted Ash, _You in place?_

Ash replied, _Parked along road just before parking lot. Saw sheriff, HP and Boone go by._

Jason handed Ian his sniper scope and said, "Tell Ash we're going now, while they're still arguing." __

Ian nodded and texted Ash. Then he scooted back from the edge of the hill and stood up. He told Coop, "Get ready to move." 

"Early?" Coop asked. 

"If we wait any longer, the National Guard is going to show up." 

Jason snorted next to him and Ian smiled. 

"On your feet," Ian snapped to Lane. 

Jason said to all of them, though he didn't look at Lane, "We're gonna walk back down the hill, then come around by the trail. Ian will go first, since the sheriff is expecting him. I'll go second. Agent Cooper and Dutch will walk in back with _him_. Keep him back until it's clear that everything is okay with the handoff." 

The others nodded. Jason said to Ian, "When I'm in custody, get someone to take my ATV back." He dug a set of keys out of his pocket. "My truck is parked in the lot at Vanderpool Campground." 

Ian took the keys and tried not to think about Jason in custody. Would he be interrogated or just tossed in a jail cell until everyone forgot about him? That wasn't going to happen. Ian would camp out in front of the sheriff's office if he had to. He'd earned enough vacation time that he could stay there for years. 

Instead of saying all that, Ian said, "Where should I take the truck?" 

Jason gave him the address of an apartment. "It's in my name," he said dryly. "But I never stay there and I don't pay the rent. Good place to park an ATV though." 

Ian nodded, wondering at a family that paid for an apartment on the off-chance their absent son would swing through town. Was it a sign of hope or control? 

They turned and walked together down the hill. Ian remembered how Jason leaned against him this morning as they waited for the sun to rise. He reached out and brushed his fingers against Jason's arm. Jason smiled at him sadly and they kept walking. 

At the foot of the hill were their ATVs. Ian put his sniper scope in his bag then looked with a sigh at his rifle and his handgun, then left them behind. He didn't want any cop getting twitchy because he was carrying a gun, even if he was supposed to be the man bringing in a dangerous fugitive. 

Next to the ATVs was the trail that would take them out to the parking lot. Checking to make sure that everyone was in formation, Ian went first. He picked up his pace and was soon 100 meters in front of Jason. He took a deep breath, held up his hands, and went around the side of the hill. 

The sheriff was still arguing but a deputy spotted Ian and called out. Instantly, a dozen guns were pointed in his direction, rounds chambered. 

"Hello, Sheriff," Ian said with a smile. "Bring some friends?" 

Sheriff Hamilton grumbled under his breath but just said, "Where are they?" 

"Coming." 

Ian could tell when Jason came into view. All the guns swung to a point over his shoulder. Keeping his hands up, Ian looked back over his shoulder. Jason was walking slowly forward, his hands up as well, looking perfectly calm. He stopped about three meters behind Ian and waited. 

"Hands up!" someone shouted unnecessarily. 

Sheriff Hamilton, handgun drawn but held at his side, moved cautiously towards them. "Hello, Jason. Where is Father Lane?" 

"Good morning, Sheriff," Jason greeted him. "He is right behind me." 

Everyone craned to look around Jason. Lane was coming around the hill, flanked by Coop and Dutch. Coop had one hand gripped around Lane's arm and the other hand in the air. Dutch was walking right against Lane's opposite leg. 

Ian's skin prickled and he felt an indefinable shift in the air. He looked around. It wasn't Jason, who was watching the sheriff moving cautiously towards them. It was somewhere else… Ian looked at the surrounding patrol cars, the tense officers. Then he looked towards the parking lot, wondering if he had heard the arrival of Jason's team, though they were supposed to stay back. 

"Let go of me!" Lane snapped and Ian's attention went back to the group of two men and a dog. Ian turned his body carefully in that direction. 

Coop met Ian's eyes and Ian nodded. Coop released Lane's arm. 

Lane began to hurry forward as the sheriff began to move towards him. Both men would have to go by Jason and Ian who stood, facing each other with their hands up, about two meters apart. 

Ian heard the sheriff approach his side. There was almost a slow-motion moment as Lane passed by Jason and Jason's calm smile flickered. 

A loud pop from somewhere behind Ian. 

Red bloomed on Jason's shirt. 

Then all Hell broke loose. 

  



	29. Sudden Mad Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian reacts to Jason's shooting.

**Part 29 - Sudden Mad Motion**

Red spread across Jason's shirt, across his belly. He looked down in surprise. 

"Don't shoot!" shouted the sheriff as guns swung in all directions and people started firing. Towards the woods, towards Jason, Coop, everywhere. 

Ian had reached Jason before he even realized he was moving. He found himself holding a sidearm, from the sheriff perhaps, and he was shoving Jason towards Coop and bringing his gun up to bear. 

There was a frantic scramble of people diving for cover, and several people trying to pull Lane in various directions. 

Dutch was barking, short loud alarm barks, and some of the guns were turning towards her. Coop yelled something in German. Suddenly, the three of them - Coop, Dutch, and the wounded Jason - were moving backwards, ducking out of view. Ian raced to follow, shooting the ground behind him, making gravel spray and people jump away. 

Around the side of the hill, Ian saw Coop and Dutch almost carrying Jason, moving as fast as they could. Ditching his stolen gun, Ian swept up behind them and grabbed the other side of Jason. 

Without a word, they rushed down the trail towards their ATVs. When they got there, Ian released Jason long enough to dig the keys out of his pocket. He climbed onto his ATV and Coop was there, tying Jason tightly to Ian's back with Dutch's harness. Coop then attached Ian's bag and rifle to the back of the ATV. 

Ian spared Coop a grateful glance then he started up the ATV and blasted down the trail. 

At first he drove wildly, taking whatever turn opened up before him, putting as much distance between him and the shooter as fast as he could. He could feel Jason at his back, trying to hold on to him but it was a weak effort. Ian was finding it hard to breathe, but hoped that was just the harness. It was good for it to be so tight, as it might put pressure against Jason's wound. 

After what seemed like a half-an-hour, Ian slowed and stopped. 

"Jason?" Ian asked, trying to look back over his shoulder. 

"Alive," Jason mumbled. 

"Thank God. Where are you hit?" It had all happened so fast, that Ian wasn't even sure where the red had appeared on Jason's shirt. 

"In the gut," Jason ground out. "Think you could drive less like you got a rabid squirrel biting your ass?" 

Ian laughed in relief that Jason could joke. "Who shot you, did you see?" 

"No. Anyone else shot?" 

"I don't know," Ian said, though he didn't add, 'I don't care.' "Coop and Dutch are ok." 

" _Him_?" 

Ian frowned, trying to remember. "I don't think so." 

"Shame," Jason said quietly and sagged against Ian. "Take a left at the next fork." 

"You know where we are?" 

"My woods." 

Ian nodded in understanding. He also had a set of woods in the world that he knew better than his own face. 

Ian drove more slowly, listening to Jason's instructions. Jason's voice was fading rapidly and Ian hoped they'd get to wherever they were going soon. Then they'd have to figure out what to do. One problem at a time. 

After another estimated 40 minutes, so over an hour after Jason was shot, Ian pulled into a clearing and saw an old cabin. It had seen better days but it was still standing. 

Ian pulled up beside it and turned off the ATV. In the sudden silence, he could hear the rasp of Jason's labored breathing. 

"Someone here?" Ian called. 

There was no reply from the cabin, but Jason whispered, "Nobody's living here for years." 

Ian carefully extricated himself from Dutch's harness - the only thing still keeping Jason on the ATV - and draped Jason over the handlebars of the ATV. Ian got his handgun from the back of the ATV and went up to the cabin. He knocked but there was no reply. The door was locked, but one sharp shove and the sound of old wood snapping and the door swung open. 

Inside, Ian smelled the heavy scent of multiple animals who had made this their den. He'd rather bring Jason into a more sterile environment, but it was better than outside. One portion of his brain that had been paying attention finally got through with the information that it was about to rain. He gave a grim smile. That was the first good news of the morning. 

He found an old bed that was still holding up. He ran outside and got the space blanket that he and Jason had slept in last night. He covered the bed with the blanket. Then he half-carried Jason into the cabin. He remembered suddenly the time when he and Jason had only known each other a few months. Jason had come to Los Angeles to help Ian and the LA FBI team with a difficult case that had ended up involving an online sniper's club. After the case had been cracked, Ian and Don's team had gone out for a celebratory drink. The air had then been cleared over Charlie's annoying sexual obsession with Ian, and Jason had gotten very drunk, enough to make some embarrassing statements over Ian's real sexual abilities. David had helped Ian get Jason out to the car afterwards, half-walking, half-dragging him a lot like Ian was doing now. 

Ian wished Jason was only drunk this time too. 

He got Jason settled into the bed and looked with trepidation at Jason's blood-soaked shirt. It was hard to tell now where the wound was. He knew enough to have Jason lay on his back and bend his knees. He covered Jason with the blanket and his own jacket. He tossed the rest of his things into the corner and shut the door. 

"I've got to call my boss," Ian said. "Ask for a med-evac to somewhere until we figure out who tried to kill you." 

"Call…" Jason whispered and Ian leaned forward. "Call Ash…" 

Ian blinked and thought to check his sat phone. He pulled it out and it had a dozen increasingly frantic text messages from Ash. 

"Looks like your team arrived on the scene after the shooting," Ian said. "But didn't identify themselves. They waited then circled back around and met up with Coop. And Dutch. They're crazy for news." 

"Call…" 

Ian frowned and looked around him. There was obviously no power at this cabin and the sat phone was at 15% power. Still, he dialed Ash's number. 

Then steeled himself. 

He held the phone away from his ear as Ash let loose a blistering tirade about his intelligence and dubious ancestry. 

When she took a breath, Ian said, "Jason's alive. He took a bullet in the gut. He needs a med-evac, but he told me to call you instead." 

There was a long moment of silence, then she asked, "Is he conscious?" 

"Barely." 

"What did he say to do?" 

"Just call you." 

"Shit, what does he want me to do?" 

Ian looked over at Jason. His eyes were closed. "Jase?" He touched Jason's arm. It was clammy. "Jase?" There was no response, though he could see Jason was still breathing shallowly. 

"He's out," Ian told Ash. 

"Shit. I haven't a fucking clue what he wants me to do. He made such a big deal about how this was personal and we needed to stay out of it. That the Army and us and even you needed to stay out of it or there would be severe personal consequences. Now what?" 

Ian said, "Maybe I can get my boss to do a med-evac if I beg. If the Army came in, they'd have to tell local LEOs. And they'll get to shoot at him again. But the FBI can get him airlifted to Fort Bragg, where he'll be safe." 

"Jason will be pissed if we bring more people into this." 

Ian allowed himself a smile of grim satisfaction. "Well, he can't tell us what to do now. I suggest we go ahead and save his life and he can shoot us all later." 

Ash gave a bark of laughter. "I knew I liked you. Okay, you call your boss. If it's a go, it's going to take time to get evac. Until then we need to get him comfortable." 

"Who's your medic?" 

"You're talking to her. Do you know much first aid?" 

"Just basic training." 

"Well, Ian, you're going to get a crash course in battlefield trauma care. Listen up." 

By the time Ash was done with her instructions and Jason's wound was bandaged up in Ian's spare clothing, Ian's sat phone was beeping low battery. He ended the call abruptly. 

He raised his eyes to the ceiling and whispered an old Cherokee prayer. Maybe his boss would be in an expansive mood. 

He found her number and texted, _Need help. In trouble. Sat phone low cant call._

A moment later he got back, _Had feeling this would go south. U hurt?_

_Jason. Shot while turning himself in to local LEOs. Dont know who shooter dont know who to trust._

_How bad?_

_Gut shot. Need evac to bragg._

_U know i have no jurisdiction._

_Please._

There was a long pause and Ian held his breath. He watched Jason's chest move shallowly up and down. 

_GD u. Send coords._

He breathed out and sent her the coordinates. 

After a moment she said, _Middle of GD wilderness._

_Get them close as u can, ill find way to exfil._

_Fking army better reimburse me._

_Yes ma am_

_Fk u too._

Ian smiled and put the phone down. 

He leaned against the bed. "Help's coming, Jase. Just hang in there." 

  



	30. Noises in the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian is prepared to do anything to keep Jason safe.

**Part 30 - Noises in the Rain**

Ian wrapped Jason more tightly in the blanket. He became aware of the soft sound of rain hitting the cabin roof. He looked up but the roof didn't show signs of leaking yet. Now the rain just needed to cover up his trail and delay anyone coming after them. He hadn't been subtle in his mad dash with the ATV. Anyone could follow that trail. 

"This another Hill property that people might be able to track down?" Ian asked. 

Jason didn't answer, of course. He was pale, his breathing shallow and rapid. Ian put his hand on Jason's damp forehead. It was cool and clammy. 

"Who shot you, Jase?" Ian asked. "Why would they shoot you? You had your hands up, you were turning over your hostage. Why would anyone shoot you?" 

He remembered Jason's comments about the Boone cops. Was there some sort of history there that would make one of them shoot Jason when he had the chance? Ian frowned, trying to remember where everyone was when the shot happened. Where had the shot come from? 

He closed his eyes, trying to picture the scene, but everything was blasted away by the surge of adrenaline when he'd seen Jason shot. If only Charlie could give him some mathematical wizardry that would say where the shot came from. But he couldn't call Charlie and there was no way to check now anyway. Even a forensics analysis of the site wouldn't help, since there had been so much gunfire afterwards, plus all those cars driving around. Though he still had the bullet in Jason's gut. 

Ian tucked the blanket around Jason's shoulder. Ian shivered a little in the cool, wet air, but he wasn't about to reclaim his jacket. Jason didn't seem to be improving, but he didn't seem to be getting any worse. 

Ian got up and wedged the door shut using an old chair. He picked up his rifle and, settling back on the floor next to the bed, lay his rifle across his lap. He put his sat phone nearby for when his boss texted him about the exfil. 

Then there wasn't anything to do but wait. 

Ian came out of a light trance where he'd been staring at a knot in the wood floor and listening to Jason breathe. He blinked and checked his phone, but there was nothing. The phone just had the barest sliver of power left. It was almost two hours since he'd texted with his boss. 

He listened for what had alerted him. There was no change with Jason, though the clothes that Ian had used to try and stop the bleeding were now soaked with blood. The rain was still falling steadily. There was some kind of sound… 

There. 

An ATV coming. 

Ian jumped up, gripping his rifle. He pushed aside the chair that was wedging the door shut then stuck his eye against the crack in the door frame where he'd busted open the lock. All he could see was his own ATV, getting soaked in the rain. He pulled back and found a smaller crack farther down the door frame. He set down his rifle and grabbed his handgun from his bag. He braced the muzzle against the lower crack and put his eye to the big crack again. He waited in place, straining to see. 

The sound got closer - two ATVs, not one. Had the Boone cops tracked him down? What would he do if they tried to take Jason? He pressed the gun harder against the crack. If they approached the cabin, he'd warn them. That was the only chance they'd get. 

The closest ATV was slowing down. Through the rain, Ian saw a figure hunched over an ATV coming into the small clearing where the cabin was. The figure was draped in a standard hooded hunter's parka. It could be Boone cops, Sheriff's Office, or even Highway Patrol. Who would have the fastest access to an ATV and ability to track him down? Or was it dumb luck that they'd found him? The ATV slowed to a stop and the person seemed to be looking over Ian's ATV. 

Ian's finger rested on the trigger of his handgun. He heard the other ATV coming closer and the first person turned to watch the second come into the area. The first person, a man, called out something to the second. He was holding up something electronic in one hand. 

Was it a sat phone? Was the man about to call for reinforcements? Ian's finger tightened on the trigger as he instinctively calculated muzzle velocity, trajectory, the effect of the rain. Ideally, his targets would be closer, but if that man began to use his phone, Ian could take him out without question. Then he'd just have to deal with the second person before they could reach the phone. He blew out his breath and prepared to fire. 

The man called something else to the arriving second person. They were also wearing the standard hunter's parka. 

Just a little closer. 

Ian didn't hear what the second person said, but suddenly the first man stood up straight and held his hands up. The man held his rigid position as the second ATV drove into the clearing and the driver pulled off their hood. 

It was Ash. 

Ian jerked his gun away from the crack, breathing hard. A faint sheen of sweat bloomed over his body as he realized that he'd almost shot Jason's team. The first ATV driver was pulling off his hood and it was Sergeant Sen, Jason's mechanic. 

Then Ian shook himself. How they hell they found him, he had no idea, but they were here now. 

Ian stood up and opened the door. 

Ash parked the ATV and pulled a big bag off the back of her ATV. Ian thought he now recognized the ATV as the one of the two that Coop had rented and the other one as Jason's. That's how they got here so fast. Didn't explain the finding part, though. 

Ian stood in the doorway and looked at Ash as she hurried towards him. "Almost shot you both." 

"I bet," Ash said. She pushed past him. "How is he?" 

"No change." 

"Good." 

Ash dropped her bag next to the bed and began to check Jason's pulse. 

Hefting his own bag, Sen walked up to the door and gave Ian a nod. Ian stepped back and let him in. "Anyone else?" 

Sen shook his head, his eyes on the gun Ian still held in his hand. 

Ian was a little surprised that Coop wasn't here, but then again, Ian had taken Dutch's harness and that dog didn't seem like she'd be willing to be left behind for anything. 

Finding himself smiling at the thought, he shut the door and wedged the chair back into place. 

"How did you find me?" Ian asked. 

Sen raised the phone-like thing that he'd been holding and Ian realized what it was. 

"A tracker?" Ian snapped. "You have a tracker on us?" 

Sen shrugged unapologetically and looked towards Jason. 

Ian dropped the subject for the moment and went over to Ash. "How is he doing?" 

"He's still in shock, but it isn't deep." She sat back on her heels and said in a low voice, "I suppose it's fitting that after all he's survived in the field, all the suicide runs that he got through. The one time he took a bullet for himself…" 

She shook her head. "At least it won't be the shock that kills him." 

  



	31. Gathering Aid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian isn't the only one trying to help Jason survive.

**Part 31 - Gathering Aid**

At Ash's grim pronouncement that it wouldn't be the shock that killed Jason, Ian felt a hot flash of fear run through him. "It's that bad?" 

"I don't know," Ash said, beginning to peel away some of the layers of clothes that Ian had used to press against the wound. "Gut shots can be bad. It depends on exactly where it was and I can't really get a good look, not without risking opening up the wound again. I can tell he's lost a ton of blood. How far away is your exfil?" 

Ian grimaced. "I haven't heard yet if she can do it." 

Sen was digging in his bag behind him. He stepped closer and held something out. Ian stared at it for a second, then grabbed it eagerly. It was a spare battery that he could use to power his sat phone. 

"Thanks," Ian said. As he plugged in his phone, one of the knots of tension eased between his shoulder blades. He'd been terrified that his phone would die before he got exfil instructions. 

"Are you hurt?" Ash asked. 

"What?" Ian said, his fingers ready to use the phone. 

"Your back." 

Ian frowned and tried to look over his shoulder. 

"Your lower back is covered in blood." 

"Oh," Ian winced. "That's Jason's." 

She didn't say anything further and he quickly dialed his boss. 

"Ian," Agent Zateria Lee answered. "Surprised you haven't been on my ass for the last hour, asking where the chopper was." 

"Low battery," Ian said. "Friend just brought me backup." 

"Friend?" Lee asked. "Who the hell do you know out in the middle of the wilderness?" 

"Long story," Ian said. "Where's the chopper?" 

"I'm busting my balls," she said. "Hope to have it there in another hour. He still alive?" 

"Yes." 

"Good. Would hate to go through all this trouble for a corpse." 

"Shut up," Ian said through gritted teeth. He usually liked his boss's dark sense of humor but not today. 

There was a startled pause, then Lee said, "Sorry, Ian." 

"Okay. Anything else I need to know?" 

"Umm, no." 

"Okay, call me when you have a location." 

"Will do." 

Ian ended the call. 

"What did your boss say?" Ash asked. 

"Chopper is at least an hour out. Doesn't know location yet." Ian sighed and said something that he'd been trying not to think about. "Don't know how we're going to transport him anyway. I don't think tying him to my back again would be good for his wound." 

Ash threw Sen a smile over her shoulder. "Why do you think I dragged him along?" 

Ian eyed Sen, who cleared his throat and said quietly, "I have an idea. An hour should give me enough time." 

"Enough time to do what?" 

Sen smiled and shrugged one shoulder. For a moment, he reminded Ian of Charlie when the answer was obvious to him and he didn't have time to explain it to mere mortals. 

Charlie… Ian quickly dialed Charlie. 

"Ian!" Charlie said after a few rings. "I heard… Is he…" 

"Jason's alive," Ian said. 

"Good! Good, that's good." 

"Did you find out who called the anonymous tip into Highway Patrol?" 

"What? Oh, yes. It came from the front desk of the sheriff's office. Could have been anyone in the office. It was a male, though." 

Ian sighed. That was the whole office staff. "What are they saying on the comms about the shooting?" 

"A lot of questions and accusations about who shot first. Someone tried to argue that Jason was a threat, but in general got shut down. No one has owned up to shooting him." 

"What about the hostage?" 

"Father Lane? He's been taken to the hospital to be checked out. They're searching for you, of course. Everybody is out combing the woods. Or at least were until the rain started coming down." 

"Any sign that they know who Jason's team are?" 

"Who?" 

"Okay, good." 

"Who?" 

"Jason's team. He leads an Army hot-spot insertion team. They showed up today and have made my life more complicated." He looked at Ash as he said that and she gave him a cheerful smile. "If the sheriff doesn't know who they are…" 

"There was a reference to some people that you met up with. I think the sheriff believes they're more FBI." 

"I'm sure they'd be horrified to be mistaken for Feds," Ian said dryly. "Anyway, there's something I need you to do for me." 

"What?" 

"I need you to route my phone to the sheriff's office but don't let him see the number or even that it's a sat phone." 

"Um, yeah, let me just call Matt…." 

"Thanks. I know it hurts to admit that you can't do it all yourself." 

"I just don't have the equipment! I could if I-" 

"Thanks, Professor. Give me a call when you're ready." 

Charlie grumbled and ended the call. 

Ian quickly told Ash and Sen what Charlie had said. 

"Professor?" Ash asked. "This the math genius that works for the FBI in LA?" 

"Jason tell you about that case?" 

"Are you kidding? He takes off for a week, we always know where he is." 

Ian raised his eyebrows. "Always?" 

She grinned. "Always." 

"Always…" 

"We know where he is, who he's with, and what he's doing." 

Dammit, Ian's cheeks were starting to flush. "Where the hell did you put the tracker on him?" 

Ash looked at Sen and they both broke out laughing. 

"We don't have a tracker on him," Ash chuckled. "We don't follow him all the time. We put a tracker on your ATV last night, just in case." 

"In case of what?" Ian snapped, not enjoying the joke. 

"Besides," Ash said and the laughter left her face. "If we'd had a tracker on him, we won't have been blindsided by him being in trouble down here." 

Ian grimaced and looked over at Jason. He put his handgun and rifle back by his bag then went to Jason's side. "Is there anything you can do?" 

"I don't think so…" She shrugged. "I mean, if we were pinned down for days in a firefight, I'd try something, but it might do more harm than good. His best bet is for your boss to come through." 

Ian nodded. He settled his jacket better around Jason's torso then pulled the space blanket back over him. 

As he sat down on the floor next to the bed, the position he'd spent the last few hours in, Ian noticed that Sen had started to take some things out of his bag. 

"Hey," Ian said. "Weren't you supposed to be watching over the Highway Patrol Officer, Max? Jason will be pissed if you left him exposed to come here." 

"Kelly is there," Ash answered for Sen, then she smiled. "Your Agent Cooper is there, too." 

Sen continued to get things out of his bag and arrange them. Ian couldn't really make sense of the things that Sen was holding, which included a jumble of car tie-downs and a pair of wire strippers. Sen stood up with his things and went outside, into the rain. 

"Coop's not 'my' anything," Ian said, staring after Sen. "I just met him yesterday." 

"Oh?" 

There was a wealth of questions in that one syllable and Ian turned to look back at Ash. "Yeah, friend of a friend. He was in the area so my friend asked him to help me out. I didn't even know he was going to be there until he shows up at the car rental place with some ATVs and asks if I want a ride." Ian added grudgingly, "He's been surprisingly helpful." 

"He certainly has a nice…dog." 

Ian rolled his eyes. It looks like Coop's smile worked on Army snipers as well as it did on Boone librarians. Well, as long as Coop didn't smile in Jason's direction, Ian couldn't care less. 

Suddenly he felt very tired. Ian put one hand on Jason's arm and closed his eyes. Now that the others were here, the adrenaline of last few hours was starting to catch up to him. 

He'd almost drifted off to sleep when his phone rang. 

  



	32. Some Pointed Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian learns little and reveals too much.

**Part 32 - Some Pointed Questions**

Ian grabbed for his ringing sat phone, but was disappointed to see it was Charlie. 

Still… 

"Hi Charlie, you have news?" 

"No news. How is he?" 

"No news there either. Which I suppose is good." 

"Okay. I have- _we_ have a patch for you. Hang on and we'll route you to the sheriff's office." 

Ian straightened up. "I'm ready." 

There was a clicking sound and then a ringing. 

"Sheriff Hamilton," came the deep voice. 

A cold wave rushed over Ian. "I trusted you," Ian snarled. "And you _shot_ him." 

A startled paused then, "Agent Edgerton?" 

"What the hell happened?" 

"Is Jason okay?" 

"No, he's not, he got shot in the gut. He's still alive, but I don't know if he's going to make it." 

"Where are you? You've got to get him to the hospital!" 

"In Boone?" Ian snapped. "When you protected him so well last time?" 

"I don't know what happened!" Hamilton said. "I don't know who shot him. Everyone is pointing fingers and covering their asses." 

"I thought we had a deal, that he'd turn himself over to you. Not half the LEOs in the state." 

"I don't know who called the cops or the highway patrol." 

"Don't know much, do you," Ian said grimly. 

"If I find out- _when_ I find out who called, I'm going to tan his hide. He endangered everyone." 

"Anyone else hurt?" Ian asked, though he knew the answer from Charlie's monitoring. 

"No, thank the Lord" 

"You got your hostage back, can you just lay off?" 

"You know I can't do that. Jason killed a man, maybe two." 

Ian didn't correct him about Scott, he was letting that fiction lie, for now. "How is the highway patrol officer? Is he still alive?" 

"Yes, though his prognosis isn't good. Jason speaking yet why he shot him?" 

"I told you before, Jason wouldn't talk about it. And now he's not talking at all." 

"You best get him to a hospital," Hamilton said again. "Before it's too late." 

"Yeah, well, I've had enough of your official hospitality. Maybe you should investigate the Boone cops. Jason said that they had it in for him." 

"We're already knowing that," Hamilton grumbled. "You came to us, remember?" 

"Anyway," Ian said, stringing out a line without guilt, "I've got a doctor looking at him already." 

"Oh?" 

"A doctor Jason knows, from when he was a kid. Figured I could trust someone he's known all his life. He's okay for now." 

"Where? He'll be needing surgery." 

"Eventually. But we're in a place that's pretty set up. Just lay off until he gets Jason stable. Then maybe we'll talk." 

"You're not in the woods anymore?" 

"Not saying anything else about that." Ian felt a brief moment of sympathy for all the random Boone doctors and out-the-way medical offices that were going to get sudden visits from armed deputies. But anything that got them looking elsewhere while the FBI got a chopper moving… 

Ian steeled himself then asked, "Is Lane talking? He have an explanation?" 

"You didn't talk to him?" 

"He doesn't know me," Ian said. "He wasn't going to talk to me, since I obviously knew Jason." 

"And how do you know Jason, again?" Hamilton repeated a question that he'd asked him several times when Ian had come into his office yesterday evening. 

Ian gave him the same answer that he had before. "I told you, we were in the Army together, before I left to go to the FBI. Jason called me to help him surrender because he didn't want the Army involved and didn't know who he could trust in Boone." 

"I see." The sheriff sounded like he was fishing for more. Had Ian given away that he and Jason were more than old friends? 

Alarmed that might have been so transparent, Ian snapped, "Look, does Lane have an explanation for what happened at the church or not? Jason isn't acting like the man I know, and I thought Lane could shed some light on it." 

There was a pause, then Hamilton said, "No, just what Jason said in his 911 call. Jason and Scott had an argument and Jason shot Scott." 

"No explanation why he kidnapped Lane?" 

"Why are you askin' me?" Hamilton said in exasperation. "You had a heap of time to talk to both of them." 

"Time, but no success," Ian lied. "Just trying to piece things together." 

"Investigate on your own end," Hamilton said. "Father Lane is still at the hospital, being checked out. Then he'll go home for some rest. He's had a rough 24 hours." 

"Haven't we all," Ian grumbled. 

"Look, Agent Edgerton, let me-" 

"Goodbye, Sheriff." 

Ian ended the phone call. He looked over at Ash who had listened to his side of the conversation. "Lane hasn't talked. Everyone still thinks Jason killed Scott. They don't know Scott's…motivations yet, so still think Lane is an innocent bystander." 

Ash shook her head in frustration. "After all Jason went through to try to bring justice for Scott, Lane is just going to go on his way." 

"No," Ian said quietly. 

Whatever was on his face made Ash's eyes widen. 

"He will never touch another child," Ian continued softly. "I promised Jason. Not one more. Scott went to the church to kill Lane. He couldn't do it. I won't have that problem." 

Ash looked at him for a long moment. She glanced back at the silent Jason, then she leaned forward and said in a low voice, "This isn't just about Scott, is it…?" 

"No." 

Ash grimaced and looked away, but not before Ian caught the blazing anger in her eyes. 

"Damn, damn, damn," she whispered. "God fucking damn." 

Ian smiled grimly. When the time came to go after Lane, he'd have another ally. 

"Don't tell the others," Ian said. "It's important to Jason that they don't know." 

"Okay… For now. Because when they do find out, they will…want to do something about it." 

Ian was suddenly reminded of Bromberg's comment that Jason's team coming to Boone could mean a "bloodbath." Bromberg could never have predicted that that bloodbath would be centered around one old serial-rapist priest. 

Ian cleared his throat. "Bromberg, I should call him. He can clear the way for Jason's arrival at Bragg. I don't know why I didn't think about it before." 

Ash's hands were clenching and unclenching. Her voice only slightly trembled when she said, "You're not used to working on a team." 

Ian forced a smile. "Jason was teasing me yesterday about all the people I've called in favors from in the last two days. He doesn't even know the half of it. I had to sell my sperm to get a chopper down here from Quantico." 

She gave a startled laugh. "I didn't know there was a market." 

"I _am_ famous," he said with exaggerated modesty. 

She laughed again. "You're full of it is what you are." Her face went serious. "Don't tell Bromberg we're here. We'll get hell for it soon enough." 

Ian nodded. It was one of many things he didn't miss about the Army. He preferred being responsible only to himself. And a very results-oriented boss. 

He called Bromberg's number. 

"Bromberg" came the crisp voice over the phone. 

"Ian Edgerton, sir." Then he hesitated. 

"What is it?" Bromberg asked sharply. 

"Jason's been shot." 

"Is he dead?" 

"Not yet, sir, but he isn't doing well and we can't trust that if he goes to a local hospital that someone won't try to finish him off." 

"Who shot him?" 

"No one seems to know. He was turning himself in to local authorities when someone shot him. There were three different groups there - Sheriff, Boone Police, and Highway Patrol and someone shot him. He was surrendering, hands up, no weapons." 

"Dammit. What do you need?" 

"My boss is trying to get us a chopper to take us to Bragg. I need you to make sure that Bragg is willing to receive him and take care of him." 

"Consider it done. Give me your boss's number and we'll coordinate." 

"Thank you, sir." 

"I'm the one who got you down there in the first place, least I could do was back you up. Keep him alive." 

"He'll hang in there. He's tough." 

"You have no idea." 

"No, probably not." 

Ian gave Bromberg his boss's name and phone number, then Bromberg hung up and Ian smiled in relief. 

"He'll get Bragg ready to receive Jason," Ian told Ash. 

"Good!" Ash replied. "He always does right by Jason." 

"Glad to hear," Ian said, resisting the urge to say how little he'd seen that in his time in the Army. 

Ian looked at his watch. "Now, where is that chopper?" 

Ash smiled in sympathy. "I'm going to go make sure Sen is ready when we do get the location. We'll get the ATVs ready." 

Ian said, "How did you bring Jason's ATV anyway? I have the keys." 

Ash raised her eyebrows. "You think we can't hotwire an ATV?" 

"I guess not." 

"Besides," she said and held up a set of keys. "You dropped Jason's ATV and truck keys when you got your own ATV keys out." 

Ian looked at the keys blankly. "I was in a hurry." 

"Maybe you wanted us to follow." 

"Not if I knew you'd spend all the time talking at me," Ian grumbled. 

Ash laughed and got up. "Keep an eye on him and tell me if anything changes." 

"Yes, sir." 

She might have been smiling as she went out the door but Ian's eyes were already turning back to Jason. Did he look better? Worse? 

He leaned against Jason's bed. "Why couldn't they have shot you in the shoulder or the leg?" Ian mused. "I've dealt with those wounds myself. I wonder if the person who shot you in the gut intended to kill you and was a lousy shot. Or they intended to just slow you down and were a lousy shot. Most of them were at most ten meters away. A gut shot is only good for a long, slow, painful death." 

He blinked. 

"God," he shuddered. "What if that was the point?" 

  



	33. Working for Exfil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian needs to get Jason out of the woods.  
> 

**Part 33 - Working for Exfil**

Ian was standing in the doorway of the cabin, watching Sen and Ash build something in the rain, when his phone rang. 

It was his boss. 

"Chopper coming?" he asked. 

"Hello to you to, Agent Edgerton. Thank you for doing handflips for me today." 

"Thank you, chopper coming?" 

"Yes." Agent Lee sounded satisfied. "Your Colonel Bromberg tried to send an Army chopper but he knew we could come in with less problems. They've gotten them as close as they could. You're going to have to travel a few miles. Is Jason mobile?" 

"We've got something rigged, I hope." 

"Right, your mysterious friend who gave you a sat phone battery." 

"Yes." 

"Fine, tell me later. Here is your exfil." She gave him GPS coordinates. "They'll be there in 20." 

"I owe you one." 

"More than one," she said cheerfully. "I'll make you pay up." 

"I know you will." 

Ian hung up and checked the coordinates on his phone. It was almost 5 miles away, but it could have been worse. He hoped that there was an ATV trail between where he was and there. 

"Got exfil!" he called to the soaked Ash and Sen. "Five miles! 20 minutes!" 

Ash raised a thumbs-up while Sen was checking a last tie. It was a weird looking hybrid contraption, two ATVs with a stretcher between them made of branches, truck ties, wires, and Ash and Sen's hunter parkas. Sen had rigged it somehow so that the back ATV could be steered in tandem with the front ATV. Sen got on the front ATV and drove it a few feet. The stretcher and the second ATV came behind. Ian shook his head and went back into the cabin. He could be impressed later. 

Ian wrapped Jason tightly in the space blanket. Sen and Ash came into the cabin and together they carried Jason out to the ATVs. Jason hardly stirred, which Ian tried not to think about too much. 

Sen tied Jason onto the makeshift stretcher with parts of Dutch's harness. Coop was going to be pissed at the state of it. 

Ian got his bag and rifle from the cabin and waited for Ash to grab her bag and Sen's. Ian shut the door and wedged it closed with a branch. He was grateful for the absent owner who had left the cabin intact. Maybe he'd find a way to pay them for the door. 

He tied the bags onto his ATV and climbed behind the handlebars. Ash climbed on behind him. It was a tight fit and Ian was quite aware of her full breasts in her wet shirt pressed against his back. 

He handed her his sat phone. "I'm going to try going in the right direction, tell me if I get too far off the coordinates." 

"We won't be able to back up," Sen called over. "Or turn quickly." 

"So go slow and don't make any mistakes," Ian mumbled. 

"Yep," Ash said against his shoulder. 

Ian nodded to himself and started off. 

It was a tense slog, with the steady rain and Ian's concern that he'd make a wrong turn and somehow have to backtrack. Jason's woods must have felt his need, though, because the ATV trails led mostly in the right direction. Ash occasionally gave him updates, both how close they were to their destination and how Sen's stretcher contraption was holding up. 

It was almost 30 minutes from the time his boss had called until they reached the exfil location. Fortunately, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. 

The helicopter that still sat in the clearing was one of the most beautiful things Ian had ever seen. Climbing out of it was Agent Baladin - the helicopter pilot who'd dropped Ian off in Boone less than 24 hours and a lifetime ago. 

Baladin wasn't smiling this time, and he was holding his sidearm at the ready. He watched Ian and Ash pull into the clearing, then his eyes widened as he took in the double-ATV stretcher. He quickly recovered and waved them all to pull closer. 

A man that Ian didn't recognize climbed out of the other side of the helicopter. Ian had to resist the urge to reach for his gun. The FBI weren't the ones that shot Jason. 

The unknown man was carrying a medic bag and he went straight to Jason. He checked Jason over very quickly then nodded. Sen got off his seat and helped the man untie Jason. Baladin went back into the helicopter and brought out a stretcher. Ash and Ian hurried over and gestured that they'd hold the stretcher. Carefully, Baladin, the medic, and Sen transferred Jason from the makeshift stretcher to a real one. 

Jason didn't stir. 

Ian clamped down on a spurt of panic and helped steady the stretcher. The medic took the end of the stretcher from Ian while Baladin took the other end from Ash. They moved quickly towards the helicopter. Ian grabbed his things from the ATV and followed. Ash did the same. 

Baladin and the medic put the stretcher into the helicopter, latching it into a set of locks designed for it. They pulled webbing over top of Jason. 

Turning to go to the controls, Baladin saw Ian and Ash both approaching the helicopter, bags in hand. 

"Only room for one patient and one passenger," Baladin said, not without sympathy. He sat in the pilot seat and turned on the helicopter motor. 

Ash and Ian stopped and stared at each other. 

"Dammit," Ash said under her breath. Then she pasted a smile on her face. "It's okay, he'd probably rather see you than me when he wakes up." 

Ian didn't hesitate. He began to climb into the helicopter. "I'll call you!" 

"You better!" Ash yelled as the helicopter rotors began to spin. 

Ian shut the door then took a seat and belted himself in. 

The helicopter lifted abruptly, making Ian's stomach lurch. He glanced down out the window to see Ash and Sen watching them fly away. Then they were up and over a sea of green trees. It felt like many times, far too many times in Ian's life when he was in a helicopter fleeing a battlefield, with a wounded comrade beside him. 

But these woods in the middle of North Carolina shouldn't have been a battlefield. And Jason wasn't just a fellow soldier. 

What was true for every time that Ian lifted away from battle was that Ian only left with the grim determination that he would be back, and with greater firepower and intel. 

In Boone, he had played by everyone's rules - the Sheriff's, the Army's, and most of all, Jason's. 

When he returned, he wouldn't make the same mistake. 

  



	34. Out of his Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian faces challenges and questions.

**Part 34 - Out of his Hands**

After the helicopter carrying Jason and Ian arrived in Fort Bragg, they were plunged into the very organized chaos that was the Army. Ian followed Jason's stretcher then gurney with a sense of déjà vu from his days in the service. He didn't miss those days at all. 

When a Captain told him to stand aside and let them 'take it from here,' Ian reminded himself sharply that he was no longer someone who had to take orders. He was an FBI agent. 

"No, Ma'am," Ian said calmly. "There's evidence and I need to maintain the chain of custody. I won't interfere with medical procedures." 

He didn't wait for a response, just continued down the hallway in the wake of Jason's gurney. True, he needed to make sure the bullet in Jason's gut remained as evidence. But it was more the nagging sense that the last time he tried to turn Jason over to someone else's custody, Jason had gotten shot. 

Ian watched silently as the medical staff unwrapped Ian's stained clothes from Jason's torso. They looked to him and asked if the clothes needed to be preserved. Ian thanked them and said only the bullet mattered. They moved more quickly after that. Ian made himself invisible in the back of the area and watched them work. 

Very soon, they determined that Jason needed surgery, and a ton of blood. A new officer came and introduced himself as the head of the hospital. He went through the procedure with Ian about maintaining the chain of custody of evidence through surgery and Ian nodded at appropriate places. His eyes were mostly on Jason, pale and unresponsive. 

Quickly, they wheeled Jason away, into surgery, and Ian was left behind. He stared at the 'Do Not Enter' door for a moment, then rubbed his face and went to go find where his bag had ended up. 

"Agent Edgerton?" 

Ian looked up from the ARMY magazine that he was idly flipping through. The speaker was a wiry Black man wearing the uniform of a Colonel. 

The man reached out a hand. "Colonel Bromberg." 

Ian stood and shook his hand. "Any news?" 

"He's still in surgery," Bromberg said. 

Ian nodded, trying to decide if that was good or bad news. "Thank you for arranging things on this end." 

"Least I could do." Bromberg waved for Ian to sit down again and sat down himself. "What can you tell me about what happened?" 

"You mean during the handoff?" 

"I mean about everything." 

Ian thought for a moment, but knew he didn't have the right to tell anyone about Jason's abuse at the hands of Lane. Jason would be angry enough that Ash figured it out. 

He said slowly, "Back to the beginning, then. Scott Wright was an old friend of Jason's. They grew up together. Also Max, the highway patrol officer. All friends." 

Bromberg nodded encouragement. 

"Max called Jason… that would make it two days ago? … and said that Scott…" Ian paused. He wanted to tell Bromberg that Lane was an abusive monster, but then that might put an onus on Bromberg to act on a non-Army matter. "Lane was the priest in Boone over ten years ago. Something happened at that time with Scott that he couldn't forgive. Lane transferred to some other church a long time ago but recently transferred back here. Max warned Jason that Scott was going to the church to confront Lane about this thing that happened and Scott was armed. Max went to the church before Jason got there, and someone shot him." 

"Who?" 

"Lane claims to not know." 

"You think he knows?" 

"I think there are many things he's lying about, so probably." 

"Ah." 

Ian put his magazine away as he thought about what to say next. Should he support Jason's lie? "Are you planning on sharing what I tell you with the local LEOs?" 

Bromberg frowned. "If I hear about a crime that-" 

"Scott tried to kill Lane, but couldn't. So he killed himself." 

Bromberg leaned forward. “You said that earlier, that Scott killed himself.” 

“Right. Suicide means you don’t get into heaven, or the good cemeteries, apparently.” 

“I still don’t understand.” 

"Jason felt like he should have stopped Scott in time. He didn't, so he's trying to help him now by claiming he killed him." 

Bromberg blinked and sat back. He looked at Ian for a moment then began to nod. "That sounds a lot more like the man I know than a murderer. He has gone to crazy lengths to not leave a soldier behind, even if they're dead." 

"So he's not leaving Scott behind," Ian agreed. There was also a lot of guilt involved, from not stopping Lane's widespread abuse as a child to not stopping Scott's suicide as an adult. 

"Okay, so what happened after Scott shot himself?" 

This was tricky territory again. Jason had taken Lane because he was determined to stop Lane's abuse once and for all, but Ian couldn't tell Bromberg that. Still, he didn't want to lie to Bromberg, as he was developing a respect that he rarely had for an Army officer. "A part of it was that he didn't want to Lane to tell the truth about Scott's death." 

Bromberg looked at him as if he knew Ian wasn't saying something, but Ian had perfected a poker face and gave nothing away. 

"What happened after that?" Bromberg asked. 

"Jason took Lane to an old hunting shack that a distant relative owned." 

"Jason had told you about it?" 

Ian shook his head. "I had a couple of friends from the FBI working local and long-distance and we tracked him down after a few false starts." 

"FBI was involved in this from the beginning?" 

"Well, that was an FBI helo that brought him here. It's all unofficial, though. I'm racking up some huge personal favor debts." 

Bromberg smiled slightly. "Me, too. We don't like FBI helos coming in here, even with an injured Army man onboard." 

"I bet." 

Bromberg continued, "So how were you able to get Jason to turn himself in?" 

"You mean, to try to turn himself in and get shot for it?" 

"One question at a time." 

"Okay. I talked to Lane and it was clear that he was going to stick by Jason's story that Jason killed Scott." 

"Why would Lane do that?" 

Ian shrugged. "There's no love lost between Lane and Jason. I think Lane sees this as a way to hurt Jason and puff himself up meanwhile, taken by a crazed killer." 

"Why don't they get along? It have to do with what happened to Scott all those year ago?" 

"Probably," Ian hedged. "Jason and I also talked about how he should turn himself into the Sheriff instead of the Boone cops. The local cops are completely in the pocket of Jason's family and…" 

"I know some about Jason's family," Bromberg said dryly. "They've tried to get him discharged several times - honorably or not." 

Ian stared at him in horror. "Jason know?" 

"Only about the first time." 

"Shit." Ian shook his head. "Anyway, Jason didn't know about Max getting shot until I told him. We decided that it would be a bad idea to try to turn himself into Highway Patrol if they thought Jason had just shot one of them. So we decided I should go to the Sheriff, who's not a big fan of the Hill's…influence." 

"Good plan." 

"I went to the Sheriff and we arranged that Jason would turn himself and Lane in at first light, but someone in the Sheriff's office tipped off Highway Patrol and the Boone cops." Ian skipped over the part about Jason's team arriving. He had a feeling that Bromberg knew already, but he wasn't going to be the one who told. "I went back to Jason but before the handoff, a friend who'd been, um, listening to their communications sent me a heads up that it would be a big party." 

"Friend is in the FBI?" 

"Not technically." 

"Okay, go on." 

"At the handoff, there were a lot of jumpy LEOs. I went first, then Jason came behind me. The FBI friend who'd been helping me search came behind Jason, with Lane." Ian shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure what happened next. Jason was just standing there, hands up, and Lane was coming towards the Sheriff and his men, and suddenly someone shot Jason." 

"The Sheriff?" 

"No, he's about the only one I can say for sure didn't do it. He was right next to me and the shot would have sounded different." 

"Anything unique about the sound of the shot?" 

Ian frowned in thought. Only a person with sniper background would think to ask that question. Maybe that's why he and Jason got along so well. "No silencer. If I had to bet, it would be a rifle, and from somewhere behind me. I was facing Jason. I think it was some distance behind me, but the LEOs were spread out. We almost filled the little parking lot with people and vehicles." 

"Damn it. What happened next?" 

"I grabbed Jason, laid down covering fire, and get him the hell out of there." 

"Good. You took him somewhere and called Agent Lee?" 

"Then Lee called you." Ian almost smiled, imagining the first conversation between his boss and Jason's. "Until the helo could get there, I also called someone who walked me through some first aid." 

"Um-hmm," Bromberg said, with a hint of wryness. 

Ash was in definitely in trouble. 

Ian continued, "I also had my not-quite-FBI friend patch me through to the Sheriff, and, well, he didn't have a lot useful to share. Just that Lane was sticking to the story about Scott killing himself." 

"The story is going to fall apart as soon as they do an investigation." 

"I know, and Jason has to know that, too. He's not thinking rationally." 

"No." 

They sat in silence for a moment. 

"There's not a lot I can do for him in terms of the trouble he's in," Bromberg said. "I'm pushing it as it is." He arched his eyebrows and said, "And if anyone else from the Army happened to be in Boone, I sincerely hope that they're just there as tourists." 

Ian smiled. "I heard the white tail are good this year." 

"Oh?" Bromberg said, looking interested in spite of himself. 

Ian nodded and his smile faded as he thought about how he and Jason had always planned on hunting together in Jason's home woods. 

"The FBI can't get involved in a local matter either," Ian said. 

"You're helping a whole lot for 'not being involved.'" 

"Depending on _who_ shot him, we could come in, maybe." 

"And depending on who shot the highway patrol officer. Damn, what's going on in that town?" 

Ian shrugged, out of answers. 

A white-coated Black man came into the room and they both stood up. 

"Colonel Bromberg?" the man asked. 

Bromberg said, "That's me." 

"I'm Doctor Banda. Lt. Col. Hill is out of surgery and…" The doctor's eyes went to Ian. 

"Speak freely," Bromberg said. 

Dr. Banda nodded. "Alright, which do you want first - the good news or the bad news?" 

  



	35. Bad News, Good News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason's doctor lays out the situation.

  


**Chapter 35: Bad News, Good News -**

"We'll take the bad news first," Colonel Bromberg said. 

Dr. Banda nodded. "Lt. Col. Hill lost a great deal of blood, we had to do multiple transfusions. We removed the bullet from his liver and there is a high risk of serious infection. We won't know about that for a while." 

"The good news?" 

"He was shot in the upper lobe of his liver and there seems to be no damage to the stomach or intestines - though that can be missed for a while. We'll have to wait and see. His biggest immediate danger was blood-loss and we have that stabilized. Also good that the bullet remained largely intact, minimizing the collateral trauma. The bullet has been kept in close custody." 

Ian smiled grimly. At least they could get some ballistics from it. 

Dr. Banda continued, "The liver is a regenerative organ, so it is possible for it to heal. We hope that the damage isn't extensive enough to require a liver transplant. Only time will tell." 

The doctor hesitated then said, "I can't say if it's good news or bad news, but Hill isn't responding in a typical pattern. His level of hypovolemic shock - shock from loss of blood - isn't as high as I would expect, but also his reaction to the transfusions isn't as positive as I would hope. I'm afraid that for everything we'll just have to monitor him for now and see how the next 24 hours go." 

"Thank you," Bromberg said. 

"Any questions for me?" Dr. Banda asked. 

Bromberg shook his head and looked at Ian. Ian had a ton of questions, but none that he thought this doctor could answer. Instead he asked, "When can I see him?" 

"He's not conscious," Dr. Banda responded. "And I don't know when he will be. He won't be available for questioning for some time." 

"I meant just see him," Ian said, realizing that the doctor thought he was there as an FBI investigator. "I was with him when he got shot. I don't need to question him about it. I'm…a friend." 

"Oh, okay. Hill has been moved to our critical care unit, but you can sit with him." 

"Thank you," Ian said. "And thank you for saving his life." 

Dr. Banda smiled faintly. "If you were there with him, perhaps I can thank you for saving his life. Without stopping the blood loss, Hill would have undoubtedly died before he got to my table." 

Ian nodded, though he wished that he'd done more, faster. 

"I'll have someone come get you when his room is ready." 

"Thank you," Ian said. 

"Thank you," Bromberg echoed. 

The doctor left and they looked at each other. 

"Definitely could have been worse," Bromberg said. "Gut shots are nasty. Infection is what killed most of the soldiers I've lost to it. We're just going to have to wait and hope." 

Ian nodded. He'd seen too many die long, horrible deaths to gut wounds. 

"I'm going to go report to my CO," Bromberg said. "And I have a feeling you have a phone call you need to make as well." 

Ian raised his eyebrows but Bromberg smiled and left the room. Ian waited until he was out of sight, then quickly dialed Ash. 

"How is he?" Ash said without preamble. 

"Made it through surgery," Ian said. "Shot in the upper lobe of his liver. Doctor said that it didn't hit the stomach or intestines, not that they think, anyway." 

"Good!" Ash said, sounding relieved. 

Ian debated telling her what the doctor said about Jason's non-typical reaction patterns, but no one knew what it meant. 

Instead, he said, "He's had multiple transfusions and now it's just wait and see." 

"Wait to see if there's infection, you mean." 

"Yes. Bullet remained intact. Now I just have to get it somewhere for analysis." 

"Can you do that?" 

Ian gave a low laugh. Considering the things he'd already done to help Jason, this didn't seem like a hard request. Still, it made sense to keep the FBI involvement from expanding. "Don't worry," he said with a wry smile. "I've got friends." 

  



	36. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian struggles with inaction.

**Chapter 36: Waiting –**

Ian was good at waiting. It was a necessary skill for a sniper, and he could wait for hours, days even, with very little movement. Onacona would have him sit with a feather on some part of his body, to see how long he could stay without disturbing it. Ian had been a stubborn teenager and the feather often gave up before he did. 

But this waiting was different. 

Ian looked around the hospital room, doing a visual sweep of the monitoring machines, cabinets, spare chair - he was grateful to be in a solo room so he only had to pay attention to one door - then his eyes returned to Jason. 

Jason’s eyes were closed, his breathing even. Ian had asked Dr. Banda, is he sleeping? Is he in a coma? Dr. Banda’s replies had been vague and full of medical jargon. They mostly boiled down to ‘we’ll wait and see’ which was Dr. Banda’s response to everything. 

Ian had never hated waiting so much. 

He stood up and stretched. Then he rested his hand on Jason’s arm, just above the IV line. “Hey, Jase. I’m going to step outside for a minute and make some calls.” 

He paused, hoping for some response, but there was nothing. Shaking his head, he went out to the hallway. He automatically checked the area for suspicious behavior, though there was no reason to believe that whoever shot Jason could have somehow travelled to Fort Bragg. 

Down a flight of stairs and along several more hallways he found a patio. He stepped outside and pulled out his phone. 

His first call was to Don. 

“Hi, you received the package yet?” Ian asked. 

“Hey, how’s Jason?” Don asked. 

“No change. Doctors aren’t really helpful. Don’t know if he’s sleeping or what.” 

“That sucks,” Don said sympathetically. “At least when Will was in a coma, we knew his situation and what we might be able to do to help. Did the doctor tell you to talk to him?” 

“No. Didn’t tell me not to, either.” 

“Ugh. How long has it been?” 

Ian looked at his watch. “Eight and a half hours since he got out of surgery.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Did you get the package?” 

“Not yet. It’s supposed to be here very soon. We’ll run all the tests on it we can think of.” 

“Thanks.” 

“Of course.” 

Ian ended that call and dialed Ash. 

“No change,” Ian said as soon as Ash answered. 

“No fever?” 

“Low one.” 

“That’s good. Hopefully he’s fighting off any infection.” 

“Yes. Find anything at the site?” 

“No, we went over that parking lot with a fine-toothed comb. No spent cartridges, no unusual footprints.” 

“Did you check beyond the tree line?” 

“Just inside. Think we should have gone farther?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Okay, we’ll go back. We’re going nuts sitting here, waiting.” 

“Yeah.” 

Ash said, “Oh, Max is improving. Coop is taking a shift there, too. Doctors are hoping that Max might actually wake up sometime in the next day or so.” 

Ian gave a dry snort. “Doctors are doing a lot of ‘hoping’ right now.” 

“True. What else can we do here?” 

“Bromberg call you yet?” 

“No. Officially we’re still on leave.” 

Ian rubbed his face with his free hand. “I don’t know. I feel like you should be watching or investigating somebody, but you can’t watch the whole town.” 

“We’ve got eyes on Lane.” 

Ian grimaced. “Good. Does your team…know what he did to Jason?” 

“I think they’re starting to guess. I might have been a bit too…bloodthirsty in my desire to keep an eye on him.” 

“Well…” Ian said then shook his head. If Jason’s secret came out, then so be it. Ian had promised Jason that not one more child would be harmed. Beyond exposing Lane, there wasn’t a lot of other ways to stop Lane except for killing him. 

Ian would be willing to take that task on. 

“Lane’s gone home for the day,” Ash said. 

“If only there were some way to keep him there.” 

There was a long pause and Ash said, “We’ll work on it.” 

Ian had to smile. A person across the patio who had idly been looking in his direction quickly looked away from whatever expression was on Ian’s face. 

Ian didn’t bother to tell Ash to not get caught. Instead, he said, “I’ll let you know if anything changes here.” 

“I’ll do the same.” 

Ian ended the call and was just about to head inside when his phone rang. 

“Charlie, what--” 

“Thank God I caught you,” Charlie said in a rush. “You’ve got a problem. Boone Police are coming for Jason.” 

  



	37. No Longer Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian learns of new threats to Jason.

**Chapter 37: No Longer Safe-**

"Boone Cops are coming here?" Ian snapped into the phone. "To Fort Bragg?" 

Charlie said, "They're claiming jurisdiction. They are on their way to take him into custody." 

"But Jason is in intensive care! He can't be moved." 

"They're making arrangements to move him to a private hospital." 

"Fuck!" Ian snarled. "How did they find him?" 

"I think an area resident saw the FBI helicopter come into the woods. Thought it was a drug-runner and called the police. I was hoping they wouldn't be able to track it, but they did eventually. Then they added up the manhunt for Jason and the FBI and called Fort Bragg." 

Ian shook his head. "Fort Bragg told them he was here. They wouldn't know to hide it, not sure they could if they wanted to." 

"Yeah, sorry, thought you'd want to know…" 

Ian gripped the phone tight and made himself say, "Thank you. Anything else?" 

"No..." 

Ian hung up and called Bromberg. 

"Ian, is Jason…" 

"Not awake yet," Ian interrupted. "Boone Cops are coming to take him anyway." 

" _What?_ Dammit, I've had to go back to… I'll call the head of the hospital right away. They can't take him out of intensive care." 

"They've made arrangements to transfer him to a private hospital." 

"How do you know-Never mind." Bromberg swore under his breath. "I was wondering when Hill's family would find out. I guess it's good we've gotten this long." 

"You think Jason's family is behind this?" 

"You think the Boone Police Department has the pull to make this kind of thing happen?" 

Ian grimaced. "True. Damn, can't Dr. Banda say he can't be moved?" 

"He can try. Then the Hills will bring in their own experts that say moving him is fine. I've seen them work." 

"But you stopped them before, when they tried to get Jason discharged." 

"This is different, I'm afraid. They can claim as his family they have his best interest at heart." 

"Even though they don't." 

"Bingo. But unless Jason wakes up, he can't say otherwise. I'll make some calls, but I have to warn you that I may not be able to head this off." 

Ian ended the call and stood there, shaking. His earlier desire to take Jason and go on the run came back full force. But Jason needed to be in a hospital. And beyond that, Jason needed to be _safe_. If it was a Boone cop that shot him, that cop would only be too happy to let something happen in the transfer that killed Jason. Ian couldn't let that happen. He'd hijack an ambulance and a doctor, if he had to. Fuck, he'd take Dr. Banda and the whole Army hospital hostage, if he had to. 

Maybe he needed to get Jason's team here, for protection. They couldn't act against the Army, though, if the Army decided it was lawful for the Boone cops to transfer Jason. Who else could he trust? 

He gave a grim smile and dialed another number. 

"Agent Baladin? I have another favor to ask you and your helicopter." 

  



	38. Aid and Ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian gets some backup...and a wild hope.

**Part 38 - Aid and Ideas -**

Ian was sitting by Jason's side when the door to his hospital room opened. His hand automatically went to his hip, but his sidearm was shut away in a hospital locker. 

Agent Cooper walked in and Ian relaxed. 

"Damn, Ian, do you think I like hospitals or something? You had me at one and now you've flown me across the state to another _._ " 

"You know nurses love you," Ian said, feeling like he'd gotten the first good news in hours. 

"Well, that's true," Coop smirked. 

Agent Baladin came in behind Coop. Ian stood up and went around Jason's bed to shake his hand. "Thank you." 

"I don't know why you felt you needed extra security in the middle of an Army hospital," Baladin said, "And I don't want to know. You going to be needing me again soon?" 

Ian's smile vanished. "Maybe. I might need to evac Jason from here in a hurry." 

Baladin's eyebrows shot up. "Don't tell me, I don't want to know. Helo is ten minutes away. I'll tell your boss the helo needs a check-over." 

"Thank you," Ian said again. "I owe you." 

Baladin's face softened. "No, you don't. I owe you everything, Ian, and you know it. I could never pay it off. I'll be nearby if you need me." 

Baladin nodded to Coop and left the room. 

Coop pointed a thumb at the door. "You save his life?" 

"His kids." 

"Oh." 

Coop turned to Jason's bed. "How is he?" 

"Hell if I know," Ian said, sitting in the chair again. "He's not dead, but that's about all that I can figure out." 

"What do the doctors say?" 

"Not much." 

"They got the bullet out, though." 

"Yeah, Don has it and is running ballistics, if that does us any good." 

"Might." Coop took the other empty chair. "What do you need me to do?" 

"The Boone Cops are coming to get Jason." 

"What?" Coop jumped up. 

"Bromberg, Jason's CO, has been able to delay them so far with red tape." 

"Wow, he--" 

"But if they come, I need you to help me get Jason out of here and onto that helo." 

Coop's eyebrows climbed like Baladin's had and stayed up. "You're going to snatch him out of intensive care and run?" 

"If I have to." 

Coop slowly lowered his eyebrows and sat back in his chair. He rubbed his hand over his face. "Shit. I don't know if I've ever hoped for more red tape before." 

"Yeah." 

Coop looked at him for a long moment. "When's the last time you had anything to eat?" 

"Those ribs, yesterday." 

"It's almost tomorrow already. Okay, you go get something to eat. I'll keep a watch out if anything changes." 

Ian nodded slowly and got to his feet. "Hey, where's your dog?" 

Coop groaned. "I had to leave her with Ash and she is _pissed_." 

"Who, Dutch or Ash?" 

"Both." 

Ian had to chuckle. "I'll be back soon." 

He left Coop with Jason and went down the hospital hallway. The halls were full of soldiers and Army medical staff. It made Ian's skin itch. Woe to anyone who tried to give him a command. 

He turned on his phone and saw a few texts. 

He responded to a text for status from his boss, 'Jason stable, still unconscious. Docs say wait n see' 

His eyebrows shot up at one from Ash and he looked quickly for a place he could call her. He found an exit door and a small pathway that wound around the building. 

"You found something?" he asked as soon as Ash answered. 

"How is Jason?" 

"No change. Coop is watching out for him now." 

"You going to tell me why you called Coop to come there? You think Jason's in danger?" 

"No, I mean, yes, but not in the usual way." 

"What?" 

"First, you found something?" 

Ash gave an angry growl. Still she answered, "About 10 meters back from the tree line we found a cartridge. It could be a coincidence, but it lines up." 

"What kind of cartridge?" 

She gave him the name and specs of a bullet favored by deer hunters, but a premium type. Ian frowned. He remembered holding the bullet in his hand, angry at the perfect 'mushroom' shape that trophy hunters craved. High-end trophy hunters. 

"So not likely from one of the cop's rifles," Ash said, echoing Ian's thoughts. 

"Maybe, maybe not," Ian said. "In small towns like Boone, some use their own firearms." 

Ash grumbled under her breath. "At least we can be sure it was a rifle." 

"Yeah. Any footprints?" 

"Nothing that we could be sure was from this. We aren't even sure that the cartridge is." 

"I know. Can you send it to California?" 

"What?" 

"Just package it up and send it to LA, I'll send you the address." 

"To your 'professor'?" 

"To his brother, lead agent in the LA field office. He's got the bullet." 

"Okay." 

"Good." 

Ash snapped, "Now what the hell about Jason being in danger?" 

Ian said, "Boone cops are trying to take him into custody." Then he held the phone away from his ear while Ash let loose a blistering barrage of words. He waited until she was done then put the phone back to his ear. "Bromberg is trying to get it stopped but he thinks he's only delaying it." 

"But they might have shot him!" 

"Bromberg is sure Jason's family is behind the transfer." 

"…shit." 

"They are trying to transfer him to a private hospital. Unless Jason wakes up and tells them not to, his family can have its say." 

"But they don't care about him!" 

"I know. He's still in critical condition, so he shouldn't be moved, but Bromberg is pretty sure that they'll get their way eventually." 

"When is he going to wake up?" Ash said in frustration. 

"Doctors don't know." 

"He's sleeping?" 

"They can't say." 

"What? Hang on…" Ash was silent for a long moment. 

Still holding the phone, Ian walked down the pathway, heading towards a door with a sign that said, 'Dining.' His stomach grumbled. 

"Okay, so bear with me here," Ash said, just before the door. 

Ian paused and stepped off the path to let a nurse go by. "I'm listening." 

"One time Jason talked to me about training that he got to deal with being tortured. He's had to use it, you know." 

Ian grimaced. He didn't know, but had guessed. 

Ash continued, "I don't remember a lot of details but he said that they were trained if they were being subject to pain to, kinda, disconnect with his body. I don't remember the terms but it sounded a lot like…well, like shamanistic trances." 

"What?" 

"I'm part Inuit. Shamans can go into deep trances to contact the spiritual realm." 

"Okay, so Jason is in a trance?" 

"I don't know, maybe?" 

Ian frowned thoughtfully. He'd heard of yogi that could lower their heart rate and breathing to almost non-existent. What if that's what Jason had done to survive getting shot? 

"When is he going to come out of it?" Ian asked. 

"When he's safe, I guess." 

"He's had three blood transfusions and he's in an Army hospital. He's safe as he's going to get." 

"I just… It was just one conversation and I was trying not to picture Jason in enemy hands so I didn't ask a lot of questions." 

Ian ground his teeth. "Do we know who trained him? Can we ask them?" 

"I don't know, maybe Bromberg would know. No, I think it was before Bromberg." 

"Dammit." 

"Wait… I almost had it… Maybe there was a word? A key word to tell him he was safe?" 

"What is it?" 

"I'm trying to remember! He told me, in case I ever needed it." 

"And you forgot it?" Ian demanded. 

"Give me a sec!" 

Ian held the phone tightly and waited. 

"I can't think with you breathing at me like that," Ash snapped. "Let me find a chill spot and calm down. I'll call you when I come up with it." 

"But-" 

Ash hung up. 

Ian snarled at the silent phone, startling someone coming out the door. He pushed past them and went into the dining hall. He picked up the first pre-made sandwich he saw and thrust some cash at the cashier. Finding a chair in a corner, he sat and chewed the sandwich mechanically. He wished for an obvious path, a target, someone he could track. That's what he was good at, not this waiting nightmare. 

He finished his sandwich and was getting up when his phone rang. 

"I got it," Ash said. "At least I think so. It feels right." She told him a phrase. 

"What? That's his safe place?" 

"That's what he said, I can't explain it. Something that no one torturing him would ever say, I guess." 

"Yeah… I'll go talk to him right now." 

"Let me know!" 

Hanging up the phone and tossing his sandwich wrapper away, Ian rushed out the door. He hurried back down pathway. 

The way Ian busted into Jason's room brought Coop halfway out of his chair, his hand reaching for a non-existent sidearm. 

"Ash had an idea," Ian said. 

"What?" 

"Just give me a minute with him." 

"Okay." 

"Alone." 

"Alright…" Coop gave him a long look then left the room. 

Ian went to Jason's side. 

"Hey, Jase, Ash said I should tell you… I mean, you're safe now, and I should tell you…" Ian cleared his throat. "Old Settler's Cemetery." 

He waited. 

"Old Settler's Cemetery," he repeated louder. 

Nothing. 

"Old Settler's Cemetery!" he yelled. 

Not a flicker. 

He sat heavily down in his chair, angry at himself for believing. Angry at Ash for giving him false hope. This wasn't a TV show where people just popped up out of comas and were alright. Jason was too far gone. He probably had brain damage from lack of blood and there was no way he'd ever wake up, but stay in this twilight not-sleep forever. Ian should be out there chasing the bastard down who shot him, not waiting in the stupid hope that… 

Jason stirred. 

  



	39. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason wakes up.

**Part 39: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back -**

Ian stared at the bed. Had he imagined Jason moving? 

No, Jason stirred again, his legs shifting under the hospital bed blanket. 

"Jase?" Ian said, standing up. 

Jason opened his eyes. 

Ian smiled, "Hey, I…" 

Jason suddenly threw up his arms. "No, no, no… I won't give you him!" 

"Jason?" Ian went to his side. "What is it?" 

Jason's eyes were unfocused. Ian put his hand on Jason's arm and Jason flinched. "Cruz, run!" He hit out at Ian. 

"Jase, it's me! It's Ian! You're safe!" 

"No, I won't!" Jason growled. "You can't have him. Cruz, get out of here!" Jason started pulling at his IV lead and pulse monitors. "No… Run!" 

Ian grabbed hold of Jason's hands. "Jason, stop! Old Settler's Cemetery, you're safe!" 

Jason fought harder, and the monitors started beeping. Swearing, Ian hit the Call Nurse bottom with his elbow. 

After a moment, the door swung open and a nurse looked in. 

"He just woke up and started going crazy!" Ian said. "I don't think he can see me." 

The nurse called for help and then Coop was running into the room. 

"Hold his legs!" The nurse said as Jason started to kick and thrash. Ian and Coop held on as the nurse made his own call for help. 

"Jason!" Ian shouted. "Stop fighting, you're safe! It's Ian!" 

Ian, Coop and the nurse fought Jason for a long moment, until Dr. Banda finally burst into the room. 

"Patient is in a semi-conscious state," the nurse said. "And combative." 

Dr. Banda snapped out the name of something that Ian hoped was a sedative. The nurse dashed out then almost immediately returned with a syringe. He inserted it into Jason's IV line. 

Within seconds, Jason's fighting slowed then stopped. His eyes rolled back and then closed. Ian and Coop slowly released their grips. 

"What happened?" Dr. Banda demanded. 

"I, well," Ian said, trying to catch his breath. "My…his, Jason's second… had an idea that Jason…might be in…a trance state that he was…taught to deal with…interrogation." 

Dr. Banda eyed him. "What?" 

"A trance state, uh, a yogic state?" 

Dr. Banda raised his eyebrows but said, "That might explain some things. But why did he suddenly come out of it?" 

"I gave him his…all-clear word. His second told me what it was. In less than a minute he was opening his eyes and fighting, but he didn't see me. He was telling someone named 'Cruz' to run. And telling someone else that he wouldn't give him up." 

Dr. Banda frowned thoughtfully. 

"That was what you were going to try?" Coop asked Ian. 

Ian nodded, eyes on Dr. Banda. 

"Give me five minutes," Dr. Banda. "I need to consult with a colleague." 

"What did you give him?" 

"A mild sedative. I don't know how long it will hold him. I hope his thrashing hasn't opened up his stitches." He turned to the nurse. "Check his stitches and IV and I'll be back." 

Ian and Coop stepped back while the nurse looked Jason over. The nurse peeled back the bandage but Ian didn't try to see. 

"Who's Cruz?" Coop asked. 

"Don't know. Not one of his current team. Could be anybody. A lot of his missions are redacted." 

Coop grimaced. "That's right, you've got his file." 

"Only declassified to my level." 

"It sounded like he was having flashbacks." 

"Yeah." 

"Maybe to a time when he needed that…trance state." 

"…yeah." 

They stood there and watched the nurse, who was done with checking Jason and was now typing into a computer. 

In about ten minutes, Dr. Banda returned. 

"Alright, I spoke to a colleague who has a lot more experience in PTSD of this particular…type. He thinks that Jason's use of a protective trance might have trigger memories of previous use." 

Ian shared a look with Coop. He didn't need a doctor's degree to figure that out. 

"What is the treatment?" Ian asked. 

"Hard to say. He might just have to ride it out. But I'm concerned that, once the sedative wears off, he's going to hurt himself fighting with us." 

"So we can't let him wake up?" Ian snapped. 

"Of course, we let him wake up," Dr. Banda said gently. "But we would need to control it. And we might want to wait a little while, give him some recovery time." 

"What, days?" 

"I'm not-" 

The door to Jason's room swung open. 

"Dr. Banda, I tried to-" said a woman in a business suit. 

A man in a police uniform pushed past her. Ian recognized the man with a start. He was the Boone cop who had been at the church, the one who let Jason's mother treat him like a servant. 

The cop saw Ian and his chin jutted out. He glared at Ian then turned to Dr. Banda and said, "I've come to take this man into custody." 

  



	40. Opening Sortie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian starts an argument in Jason's hospital room.

  


**Part 40: Opening Sortie -**

Ian balled up his fists and stepped towards the officer that had just threatened to take Jason into custody. He felt Coop move up beside him, but he didn't know if Coop intended to hold him back or help him. 

"What's going on, Georgina?" Dr. Banda asked the woman in the business suit. "Who is this?" 

"Local police from Boone, they are arguing jurisdiction." 

"Jurisdiction over what? He's in no shape to be moved." 

"They have a transport standing by to-" 

"I'm not going to let them take him," Ian interrupted. "This cop's buddies could have been the one who shot him." 

"No way," the cop snarled. "And I'm taking him. I have the transfer order right-" 

Ian stepped closer. "I'll take your transfer order and shove it up your-" 

"Alright!" Dr. Banda snapped. "Everyone, out into the hallway!" He pointed to the nurse. "Except for you. Let me know if he shows any sign of coming out of the sedation." 

The nurse nodded. The executive - her hospital nametag said 'Georgina Chaykin' - stepped to the door and waved for people to leave. She, the cop, Dr. Banda, Ian and Coop all filed out into the hallway. 

Immediately, everyone began to argue. 

Dr. Banda's calm voice cut through the noise. "Georgina, does this officer have a transfer order?" 

"I'm afraid so," Georgina said. "As Lt. Col. Hill is accused of a crime in a local jurisdiction, they have the right to take him into custody." 

"Right now?" 

"Yes." 

"But he can't be moved right now. He's in a very fragile state." 

Ian grimaced at the assessment. 

"I'm aware of his condition, Dr. Banda," Georgina said, "But a medevac to a hospital near Boone has been arranged by… It's been arranged." 

"Still, it's too risky. Especially with the latest complication." 

"Complication?" 

Dr. Banda glanced at Ian. "I believe that Hill was in self-induced low-conscious state in order to slow his injury." 

Georgina eyed him. "Is that possible?" 

"I would call it highly probable. Hill has advance counter-interrogation training." 

"It would slow, what, his heart rate and respiration?" 

"And reaction to outside stimuli." 

"Oh." 

"It was one of the factors that saved his life," Dr. Banda said, glancing at Ian again. 

"And he's still in this…state?" 

"No. It might be easier if he was." 

"I don't understand." 

"Hill was given his 'all-clear' word. But when he came out of it, he was confused and combative. I conferred with a colleague who specializes in PTSD in captured soldiers. He thinks that Jason's use of a protective trance might have trigger memories of previous use." 

"He thinks he's in the hands of the enemy again?" 

"Yes. I had to sedate him, but this is going to take very careful handling." 

"I can see that." 

"This is ridiculous!" The cop who had been listening impatiently turned to Georgina. "Ms. Chaykin, the transfer order is very clear. The hospital that Hill will be transferred to is fully equipped to handle this… thing." 

Georgina frowned at the cop, then she said, "I'm going to need to confer with the board." 

"The what?" the cop said. "My order is very clear." 

"I will not endanger a soldier's life if I can help it," Georgina snapped. "Especially a POW." Her face smoothed over and she gave him a pleasant smile. "Please come with me." 

She turned and walked up the hallway. The cop gave Ian a furious look then stalked after her. 

Coop, Ian and Dr. Banda watched them go. When there were out of earshot, Ian said, "So much for the idea of bringing Jason out of the sedation slowly." 

Dr. Banda nodded, a deep scowl on his face. "I'm going to consult with my colleague again." 

Ian managed, barely, to avoid rolling his eyes. Dr. Banda walked away down the hallway. Ian looked at Coop. "Keep an eye on Jason. Make sure the nurse doesn't let him come out of sedation." 

"How am I supposed to-" 

"I'm going to call Ash. We need to find out who this Cruz is if we're going to be able to convince Jason he's not in enemy hands. Maybe we can snap him out of it so he can contest the transfer order." 

"And if we can't?" 

Ian gave him a grim smile. "Then Agent Baladin's chopper is waiting." 

  



	41. Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian searches out information to help Jason.
> 
> Content warning: Discussion of suicide

**Part 41 - Bad News**

Ian hurried down the hospital hallway towards a place he could use his cellphone. As soon as he got there, he called Ash. 

"Who's Cruz?" Ian asked as soon as Ash picked up. 

"What?" 

"Cruz, Jason is asking for Cruz. Who is he?" 

"Jason is awake?" 

"Sort of, so who is-" 

"Dammit, Ian!" 

Ian took a grip on himself - and a tight grip on his phone. "Sorry. Okay. I gave Jason the all-clear phrase. It took a minute but then he started moving, but he didn't recognize me or seem to know where he was. He's in the middle of some sort of flashback, probably because he used that trance again. They had to sedate him before he hurt himself." 

"Shit." 

"Then Boone Police arrived on the scene and tried to take him into custody." 

"What, _now_?" 

"We stopped them, at least for the moment, but it's dicey. The best thing would be for Jason to come around and tell them that he doesn't want to be transferred. Don't know if it's going to stop Boone cops, but it'll give the Fort Bragg board some backup. I don't think they want to let Jason get transferred, at least while he's still in intensive care." 

"Okay, so-" 

"Who's Cruz?" 

Ash was silent for a long moment. 

Finally, she asked, "Did Jason ever tell you about when he was taken by the Taliban?" 

"No." Jason and Ian had rarely spoken about anything other than the immediate moment. Ian had always liked it that way, but in retrospect, talking about the past might have headed off some problems. 

"We were in the Helmand Province. We were sent in to capture a high-value target and things went south fast. We were surprised and overrun and Medearis was killed. We were falling back and Cruz got cut off. Jason went back to get him, though it was crazy." 

Ian nodded, though Ash couldn't see him. That sounded like something Jason would do. 

Ash continued, "Cruz told me afterwards that they were about to get captured and Jason threw himself into the mix and told Cruz to run. Cruz ran. He thought Jason was behind him but they grabbed him. We tried to go back after Jason but the fire was too heavy." 

Ian gripped the phone, imagining Jason throwing himself into the line of fire to rescue someone under his command. "How long was he a prisoner?" 

Ash sighed. "Three days." 

Ian opened his mouth to say that wasn't long, then shut it again. One hour would be too long to be in enemy hands. "You got him out?" 

"Me and a ton of other soldiers. The Army was terrified what they'd get out of him if he was tortured, so they made it a priority." Ash said it lightly, but couldn't hide the old anger and frustration. 

"Good." Ian said, then made himself ask. "Did they torture him?" 

"Some. They were waiting for instructions on what to do with a suddenly acquired officer. It was a good thing that they didn't know who they had. Jason had a nickname in the area for his sniper hits, one I won't repeat." 

"I see." 

They were silent for a moment. 

"So Jason used his trance trick when he was captured?" 

"He must have. I didn't give him the all-clear phrase, though. Someone else must have known it." 

"Cruz?" 

"Maybe." 

"Cruz still serving? If Jason heard his voice, it might help him snap out of it." 

"Cruz got out of the Army soon after that." 

"Oh, maybe we could-" 

"Killed himself a year later." 

"…shit." 

"Left behind a wife and a young daughter." 

Ian grimaced. It was a horribly familiar story. The suicide rates for veterans was far too high, especially for those who just left the service. 

Wait… suicide. 

Ian asked, "Did Jason blame himself for Cruz's death?" 

Ash replied flatly, "What do you think." 

Ian sighed. It wasn't just Jason's use of the trance state that had driven him over the edge. It was feeling responsible for yet another friend's suicide. And Scott's happened right in front of him. He could hear Jason yelling for Cruz to run, yelling 'I won't let you have him!' Ian could imagine that Jason said something similar as he held Scott's dead body. Ian rubbed his forehead. The devotion that made Jason such an effective team leader, fueled his meteoric rise in rank, was now tearing him apart. 

Jason desperately needed time and quiet to heal in body and mind. Time to recover from a bullet wound and the much worse loss of a friend. How could Ian give it to him? How could he extricate Jason from this mess, at least temporarily, without endangering Jason's life? 

Plans, nebulous for the moment, began forming in his mind. The barriers, the people he'd need, the risks… How many more favors did Ian have that he could call in or had he used them all up to get this far? 

"Major Shesh," Ian said slowly. "Just how much medical training do you have?" 

  



	42. Yet Another Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don gives Ian some unexpected news - and advice.

**Part 42: Yet Another Mystery**

Ian paced alone in Jason's room. Coop had told him that he was sick of Ian being a hamster and that he'd be outside if Ian needed him. Every time Ian turned around in his pacing, his eyes went to the monitor that the nurse had said might alert them if Jason started to wake up. The nurse was at his nursing station, supposedly to deal with other patients, but probably also driven out by Ian's pacing. 

Eleven steps forward, turn, eleven steps back, turn… 

Plans to pull Jason out of here swirled in his head. Ash had made it clear that she didn't have the training to take care of Jason herself, not without supplies and facilities. Ian got the feeling that having to go against the Army wasn't going to be the sticking point for Ash. Maybe not even any of Jason's team. He inspired an insane loyalty it seemed. 

Ian certainly felt it. 

Ian paused and looked at the bed where Jason slept heavily. Jason was still under sedation and didn't move except for the rise and fall of his chest. 

When Ian had first met Jason, he'd thought Jason was a solitary creature. Only looking back did Ian realize that being leader of a small team made more sense, especially now that he'd met the team. Though he wasn't a 'people person' or a talker, Jason had innate leadership and confidence. Even if both had been severely shaken the first time they met, when Ian had rattled him enough to take his sniper ranking and then his virginity. But now Ian could see Jason was the kind of leader that was the point of the spear. The kind that made those who followed behind him also want to be great. Besides, if Jason didn't have a command, how else had he made Lieutenant Colonel at 29 years old? Ian should have known the Army better. 

In the bed, Jason looked pale and unkempt. He was always clean-cut and smooth-cheeked. 

Though he still looked beautiful to Ian. 

Once upon a time, Ian had thought of Jason as a jaguar, a lone hunter. Now that he knew him better, what would be a more appropriate metaphor for Jason and his team - Alaskan wolves or bottlenose dolphins with their specialized roles? Chimpanzees with their blocking and ambushing? Lions with their more hierarchical roles? Ian shook his head. That would be something he could think about later. Jason still moved like a jaguar. Or at least had until some bastard shot him. 

Ian shook his head and returned to pacing. 

How much time did Ian have? How long could he keep Jason here before Fort Bragg was forced to let him go? Should he move Jason now, before that cop came back? Or should he stay here just another hour, hope that Jason's doctor figures out a better way to let Jason come out of sedation? 

Dr. Banda might just have to come with Ian and Jason when they left. Too bad that Agent Baladin's chopper wasn't a full-size transport. 

Ian's phone buzzed. He jumped guiltily. He'd forgotten to turn it off when he returned to ICU. It was a text from Don, _Call me when you see this._

Ian quickly left the room and found Coop, who was sitting in a chair down the hall. 

"Text from Don," he said quietly. "Watch Jason." 

Coop pointed wryly at the sign saying NO PHONE USE but Ian only checked to make sure Coop was standing up to head to Jason's room, then Ian hurried down the hall. 

When Ian got to a safe area, he called Don. "What's up?" 

Don asked, "How is Jason?" 

Ian replied, "It's…complicated, but every hour that goes by is good. Right now they have him sedated because he's having flashbacks to when he was captured by the Taliban." 

"Whoa…" 

"And the Boone cops are here, arguing with the hospital staff that they have the right to take him into custody, transfer him to a Boone hospital. Even though one of them might have shot him." 

"Wow, I'm sorry." 

"Yeah." Ian sat down in a nearby chair. "What do you have?" 

"I couldn't believe it," Don said. "But we got a hit on ballistics for that bullet." 

Ian sat up straight. "What?" 

"It's a weird one." Don cleared his throat and Ian recognized what followed as Don's 'update my team' voice. "So about two-and-a-half years ago there was a man that was killed. It was in the Boone area, at a private hunting lodge. It was during a big hunting party, with tons of local bigwigs, and later a man was found shot dead. He was a local man that had been hired as a beater for the party - someone to flush out birds for the hunters to shoot at. His body wasn't found until after the event, a fatal shot to the head and another shot to the shoulder. He was found without his hunter's orange vest and hat, even though multiple witnesses say he was wearing them when he went out and many people agreed he was an experienced beater who would have never taken them off. But since he wasn't wearing them, the death was declared an accident and no one was charged. They didn't even take ballistics from people's guns to see who shot him. The whole thing was shoved under a rug because of who was there." 

"Who was there?" 

"A big group - a US congressman, state senators, the important families of the area - including Jason's - and, get this, it was an event honoring local law enforcement so most of the members of the Highway Patrol, Watauga County Sheriff's department and Boone police were there." 

Ian groaned. "So it doesn't narrow down our suspects at all!" 

"No, no, it does. See not _all_ of the departments' personnel were there and it's been two-and-a-half years, there had to have been turnover. I've got a list of everyone that was at the party. If we get a list of everyone that was there when Jason got shot, we might have just a few names overlapping." 

"I know the sheriff himself didn't do it, I was looking at him." 

"Okay, good, another name eliminated. Do you think you can find out who was there on your end? I can call the sheriff, but not officially…" 

"No," Ian sighed. "I'll do it. He knows the Boone cops too so he'd have those names." 

"This is big," Don said. "It could break this open." 

"Another mystery, another death," Ian grumbled. "I'd like to solve one shooting before the next one turns up." 

"You know that's not how investigations work. The more crimes you find, the easier to catch the guy, usually." 

"Yeah…" Ian took a deep breath. "Thanks, Don." 

"We'll keep looking, see what we can do here." 

"Okay." 

"Before you hang up," Don said quickly. Then he hesitated. 

"What?" 

Don said, "Look, I know I'm not anyone who should be saying this, but don't do anything stupid." 

"What do you mean?" Ian said coolly. 

Don continued, his voice earnest, "Jason needs to be in a hospital right now. He was just shot, just had surgery. He needs to stay in a sanitary medical environment, even if he's under arrest. I know you're thinking about-if it was Will _I_ would be thinking about it - grabbing Jason and going on the run." 

Ian gritted his teeth and didn't answer. 

"When Will was shot and we thought there was a mole in the DEA, I pulled my gun on the EMTs that came to help Will. I told them I didn't know that they were medics and they could be there to finish the job." Don's voice was rough with emotion. "I'll never forget how the EMTs told me, 'You don't know we're medics, but in a minute, that isn't going to matter.' I let them take him because I couldn't save Will myself, only medics and doctors could." 

Ian squeezed the phone tighter. He was far too aware that couldn't save Jason himself. 

"I understand what you want to do," Don said, "But focus on keeping Jason alive and getting better, that's what matters. Anything else we can sort out later." 

"I can't let them take him," Ian snapped. "One of them could have shot him. They'll get a chance to finish him off." 

"Then find a way to go with him, protect him. Don't take him out of the hospital yourself. Keep him with doctors and medical care." 

"How am I supposed to go with him?" 

"I don't know," Don said. "Just find a way." 

Ian grunted in frustration but didn't bother to argue. 

"I'm not going to tell you 'Don't get Coop involved in anything crazy,'" Don added with a forced laugh. "He'd probably go along with it." 

Another grunt. 

"I'll let you know if we find anything more." 

Ian hung up without saying goodbye. 

He shoved his phone in his pocket before he could give into the urge to throw it across the room. What the hell did Don know? He jumped up and went out the nearest exit door. Behind the hospital was a small park and he walked through it furiously for several moments. 

Finally, he slowed down and sat on a bench. 

He hated it that Don was right. 

Every instinct was telling Ian to grab Jason and go, and Ian was used to living and surviving on his instincts. But instincts didn't mean to ignore the more evolved parts of his brain. 

He swore viciously under his breath. He'd been thinking earlier about how he'd rattled Jason, the first time they met, but the truth was that Jason had rattled him from the beginning as well. Ian had done dumb things like go alone after that serial killer in the wilderness, just because he needed a distraction from thinking about Jason. No one had ever gotten to him like Jason. No one. Now Ian was being stupid and impulsive, when he was known for being a methodical and meticulous investigator. Yes, he took risks, but they were calculated ones. Jason needed Agent Edgerton, not some sloppy hothead. 

Closing his eyes, Ian took five deep breaths, then counted down from twenty in Cherokee. 

When he opened his eyes, he felt much clearer. 

He got his phone out of his pocket and called a familiar number. 

"Charlie, I need you to connect me to Sheriff Hamilton again." 

  



	43. Checking in with the Sheriff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian tries to get information from Sheriff Hamilton without giving any of his own.

**Part 43 - Checking in with the Sheriff**

"Sheriff Hamilton," Ian said after Charlie had patched him through to the Sheriff's office. 

"Edgerton?" Sheriff Hamilton said. "How's Bragg treating Jason?" 

"So the Boone cops let you know he was there." 

"Naw," Hamilton said. "We did the tracking and let _them_ know." 

"Why?" Ian asked angrily. "They're here demanding Bragg release him into their custody, even though he's in ICU!" 

"What?" Hamilton sounded genuinely startled. "Why?" 

"Because they can. They have an order to transfer him to a private hospital in Boone." 

"Private hospital?" Hamilton thought for a moment. "Dammit, they must be talking about North Lakes." 

"What's that?" 

"Fancy hospital for rich people who don't want to get poor people germs. It's near Charlotte." 

"How far from Boone is that?" 

"Two hour's drive. But it has its own security and doctors. Once Jason gets in there, you'll never be allowed to see him." 

"Dammit." With Don's reminder about keeping Jason alive being the only important thing, Ian asked, "It's a quality hospital?" 

"Of course," Hamilton scoffed. "Wouldn't want rich people getting MRSA, now would we?" 

"ICU?" 

"Yes." 

"So Bragg can't object on the grounds that it's substandard care." 

"'Fraid not." 

"Though transport could be dangerous." 

"I guess so, I'm not a doctor." 

There was a moment of thoughtful silence then Ian said, "I called because I need a list of all the people that were there when Ian got shot." 

"Why?" 

"I don't think I can tell you," Ian said honestly. 

"You can trust me!" 

"I know you didn't shoot Jason because I was looking at you, but until we know that one of your people didn't shoot him, I can't trust you." 

"You can be trusting us. We're on Jason's side." 

"Did you find out who in your office called the Boone cops and Highway Patrol to show up at the meet?" 

"…Not yet." 

"Okay, then 'not yet' on telling you why I need that list. But I need it." 

Hamilton sighed. "Fair enough. I know all the Boone guys, and I can get the names of the HP that were there. You got somewhere I can send it?" 

Ian gave him an email address that he used as a drop-box for contact with informants. 

"Okay," Hamilton said. "Now what am I supposed to do with that group of Army soldiers hanging around town?" 

Ian thought about several replies, before going with, "Are they bothering anyone?" 

"They be making me nervous." 

"Are they making the Boone Police nervous, too?" 

"Hell if I know. I've got my eye on them, though. And they seem to have a lot of interest in Father Lane." 

"They bothering _him_?" 

"…Not that I've seen." 

"Okay, then they're just tourists." 

"That's a load of malarkey!" Hamilton protested. 

"You don't get tourists in Boone? During whitetail season?" 

Hamilton grumbled. "Fine. But if they bother Father Lane or do anything else not _touristy_ , I'll be hauling them in here." 

"Yes, sir. I'm sure they'll just enjoy the weather, sir." 

Hamilton laughed. "They like tons of cold rain, huh?" 

"How would I know?" 

"Fine. I'll send that email and…" 

"What?" 

Hamilton gave a deep sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, Agent Edgerton, that the Boone cops are at Bragg trying to take custody of Jason out of ICU. I never thought they'd do that. I just wanted them to stop tearing the woods apart looking for Jason." 

Ian frowned. "Why do you think they're so crazy about getting hold of him? Do they think Jason's dangerous to the public?" 

"I don't know. But Father Lane is well respected in these parts. What Jason did got a lot of people up in arms." 

Ian gritted his teeth on what he wanted to say about the 'respected' Father Lane. Instead he said, "What about Scott? He respected too?" 

"Sure, yeah, but he wasn't… Not as many people knew him." 

"Have you interviewed his family?" 

"Of course! We thought Jason might go there." 

"Why?" 

"Why not?" Hamilton snapped. "We don't even know why Jason killed Scott in the first place." 

Ian had to grit his teeth again on the need to tell Sheriff Hamilton the truth. When he was ready, he said, "They done an autopsy on Scott yet?" 

"Probably be another day or two. This isn't the big city. We only have a part-time coroner that we share with Hickory and Statesville and a bunch of other towns." 

Ian thought about asking if that was the same coroner that had investigated that 'hunting accident' at the bigwig party, but that would have tipped Hamilton off for sure. 

Ian said, "Okay, you'll drop me an email with the coroner's report? And the list of people who were there when Jason was shot?" 

"In exchange for what?" 

Ian held back his anger. "You want your little town back to normal, right? Solving this case is the fastest way to get me and the 'Army soldiers' out of your town and off your back." 

"You gonna solve it from Bragg?" Hamilton scoffed. 

"I've got lots of resources," Ian said wryly. "You'd be surprised." 

"You know, Agent Edgerton, I really wouldn't. And yeah, I want this past and over, so I'll get you any info that I legally can." 

"Of course." 

As Ian hung up the phone, what Sheriff Hamilton said sunk in. How was he going to solve it from Bragg? He needed to talk to people, investigate, and that was in Boone. 

To do that, he might have to do the worst thing possible. 

He might have to let the Boone cops take Jason. 

  



End file.
